


The Story As I Recall

by writetherest



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Ficlets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-03-10
Updated: 2012-11-01
Packaged: 2017-12-24 06:24:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 41
Words: 33,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/936453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writetherest/pseuds/writetherest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of stories written for prompts on Tumblr. Mostly Swan Queen. Various genres and ratings. Prompts and warnings will be noted for each story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:** Swan Queen with some apple pie

Emma looks up when she hears the click of high heels on the floor that signifies Regina has entered her office. She tells herself that she knows it's Regina because the woman is here so often, and for no other reason.

When she takes in the mayor, starting at the feet and working up, she sees that the woman is holding out an apple pie. Emma's face scrunches as she looks at it.

"Good afternoon, Sheriff Swan." Regina is all pageant smiles and pleasantries.

"Good afternoon, Madam Mayor. What can I do for you today?" Emma asks suspiciously.

"Despite your best efforts," Regina flashes her teeth and Emma has a moment of fear that she'll actually go for her jugular, "my apple tree is still producing apples as bountifully as ever. Since I had to find use for them all, I thought I would bring you a pie." She holds it out to Emma. "Consider it a peace offering."

Emma takes the pie and handles it with all the care of an atomic bomb. She plans to throw the thing in the trash as soon as Regina's gone. It's probably poisoned, after all. "Thanks." She says weakly.

Regina turns as though to leave and Emma knows she should just let her go, but her eyes are stuck on the apple pie that she's just accepted - the second time Regina has given her something with apples. And Emma's done her research - because really, it kind of seems like Regina is obsessed with them and Emma refuses to believe it's because she's actually The Evil Queen, so she wanted to know why else Regina might have such a fetish for them - and that sets off a whole other bout of thoughts that she needs to get out of her head and quickly - so she's got a tidbit of information that she's stored away in the back of her mind.

"Did you know, Madam Mayor," And Regina turns at Emma's voice, watching her from the doorway as Emma leans back with a smirk slowly forming, "that in ancient Greece, throwing an apple to a woman was considered a marriage proposal?"

Confusion flickers across Regina's face for a moment. "I'll keep that information for the next time I'm on Jeopardy."

Emma still just smirks. "I'm just wondering what giving a woman an apple pie would've been considered. I mean, you did already give me an apple, after all."

Regina's eyes widen just the slightest bit. It's all the encouragement that Emma needs to keep going.

"I mean, after all, an apple pie…" she slides it closer to her on the desk, "it's so hot."

Regina looks like she wants to leave, but her body is betraying her, because her feet aren't moving.

Emma runs her finger over the crust of the pie. "And inside, it's just so deliciously moist," she uses her fingernail to break the crust and slides her finger down into the pie, "and those juices." She pulls her finger out, slowly, and based on the look on Regina's face, she decides to chance the poison. It'll be so worth it.

She sticks her finger into her mouth and sucks, swirling her tongue purposely around the digit before allowing it to be released. "And oh, so sweet."

Emma watches as Regina swallows hard. She fights to keep the smile off her face as she moves her finger back toward the pie. "What do you think, Madam Mayor?" Regina's eyes are like lasers, burning into Emma's finger as it slides back into the pie, this time curling a bit. "What does giving a woman an apple pie say?"

Regina couldn't answer even if her brain was functioning, her mouth is so dry.

Emma pulls her finger back out. "Cat got your tongue?" She husks, her own tongue coming out to clean off her finger.

Before Regina can answer, Emma's phone goes off. She picks it up, her finger already back in the pie. "Sheriff Swan." She pulls it back out and pops it into her mouth. She sucks it off once again before answering the voice on the line. "Sure Ruby, I'll go check it out right now."

Then she stands up, slipping her phone back into the holder on her belt before picking up the apple pie. She moves closer to Regina, who is still planted in the same spot, unmoving.

"Well, if you ever figure it out," she smiles, placing the apple pie back in Regina's (slightly trembling and _oh yeah_ , Emma's proud of that) hands, "you know where to find me."

She offers her a little wink and then saunters out of the office. Regina can only stare at the hole in the center of the pie.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Swan Queen, Emma's pregnant and doesn't know how

"You're sure?" Emma says for about the hundredth time.

Doc smiles and nods yet again. "I'm sure, Emma."

"I mean, you're sure you're sure? Because this is just - I mean, unless things are different here than they were at home -"

Doc chuckles. "Emma, this is the Enchanted Forest. Anything is possible here. Haven't you learned that yet?"

"Well, yeah, I mean sure, magic and all that. But this?" Her head is still spinning and she feels very much like she did when she was 17 years old and staring at two blue lines. Which is actually kind of appropriate.

"Do you think that Regina -" Doc starts to ask, but stops himself, unsure of how to continue.

"I - I don't know. I mean, I don't think so. Not purposely." Emma brings a hand up to rub her face, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We talked about a few times, in the abstract, but she was always hesitant. And now -" She looks at Doc again. "You're sure?"

He reaches out and takes her hands, patting them softly. "I'm sure, Emma. I don't know how, but I do know that you are most assuredly pregnant."

And she feels the same fear and uncertainty she had fourteen years ago, but she also feels excitement too. She nods and smiles softly. "Thanks, Doc."

* * *

She has no idea how to bring it up or what to say to Regina, so instead she doesn't say anything. Regina notices right away.

"What's going on?" Regina asks as they sit together at the dining room table in the palace - and Emma's still not used to that yet. "What happened when you visited your parents this afternoon? You've hardly spoken a word since you got back."

Emma chews on her lip - a habit that Regina knows means that the blonde is nervous or upset about something. "I, uh, I didn't go see my parents this afternoon." She confesses quietly. "I went to see Doc."

"Doc? But why would you -" Regina stops suddenly, her eyes flying to Emma's, panic already on display, "What's wrong? Emma, why did you need to go see Doc?"

Emma reaches out and grabs Regina's hands, squeezing them reassuringly. "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine, Regina. I'm not going anywhere"

And though it wouldn't be visible to many people, Emma sees Regina relax, the fear gone from her eyes. "Then why did you go to see him?"

"Well," she chews her lip again, "I am fine. I mean, I'm not sick. But he did find something - interesting."

Regina goes rigid again. "What?"

It should be easy to say the words, to just tell Regina, but she's never actually told anyone before. Even with Henry, there hadn't been anyone to tell, except her own empty walls. And now, suddenly, she's overcome with the fear that this will be the breaking point, the thing that tips Regina over the edge and causes her to leave. Because as much as Regina is afraid of Emma leaving her, Emma is just as afraid of Regina leaving and taking away the first family that she's ever really had.

And how is she supposed to tell her very female lover - the only person that she's been with for well over a year (and actually longer, but Regina doesn't need to know that) - that she's pregnant? What if, even in this fairy tale world filled with magic, Regina doesn't believe that the baby is hers? And hell, Emma doesn't even know if it is. She's so far out of her depth here, she's pretty sure that she's going to drown.

"Emma." Regina's voice has an edge to it, as she stares at the tears that have formed in the blonde's eyes. "What is going on?"

"I'm pregnant." Emma finally whispers, refusing to look at Regina, afraid of her reaction.

"You're what?" Regina's voice is quiet, filled with shock, but also, Emma thinks, perhaps wonder.

She forces her eyes up, making eye contact with the wide, surprised eyes of Regina. "I'm pregnant." She says again.

"But - but how -"

"I was hoping you could tell me." Emma says with a sad smile.

Regina just stares at her, her eyes going from Emma's face to her stomach and back again. Every second that she doesn't speak is another second closer to Emma completely losing it - and damn these hormones already, because tears are slipping down her cheeks and that is not okay. "Say something, please." She begs.

"I -" Regina honestly doesn't know what to say. She's torn between complete joy and excitement and utter fear of trying to be a good mother. As much as Henry and Emma both protest now, she knows that she failed him in so many ways growing up, and she's petrified of doing the same with this child.

Henry chooses that moment to enter the room. He takes one look at Emma and his brow furrows in concern. "What's wrong with Ma?"

"I -" Emma looks at her son, "I'm pregnant."

Henry's eyes light up and a giant smile spreads across his face. "It worked!"

"What?" Regina and Emma both exclaim at once.

"For my birthday, I wished for a little sister." Henry says with an impish little grin.

"You did what?"

"Well, I had to do something." Henry tells his mothers matter of factly. "I heard you guys talking about it and I knew that Mom was too scared to actually make it happen, so I decided to step in."

Emma looks at Regina in surprise. "You were scared?"

"I was not scared!" Regina protests. But Henry is looking at her like he knows better and understanding is dawning on Emma's face as well. "I wasn't!"

Henry opens his mouth to say something, but Emma cuts him off. "Well that's good. Because I'm terrified."

Now it's Regina's turn to look at her in surprise. "What?" Emma has been, from the very beginning, the picture of a savior - brave and strong and not at all scared. She had adjusted to living in the Enchanted Forest so easily, never once showing any uncertainty. So to hear something different now throws Regina.

"You've done this before." She says softly, looking between Henry and Regina. "What do I know about midnight feedings and soothing fevers and being a mother?"

Henry rolls his eyes. "You know plenty. You both do. And together, you're gonna be like you guys always are - unstoppable." He looks at them seriously. "You're amazing parents. I wouldn't have wished for a little sister if you weren't. So stop worrying and start celebrating. I'm going for a ride." He leaves them standing in the kitchen, staring at each other.

"You're pregnant." Regina whispers, moving closer, her hands coming to rest on Emma's still flat stomach. "With our daughter."

Emma nods. "Crazy, huh?"

But Regina shakes her head, pulling Emma in for a kiss. "No. Amazing."

And Emma has to agree. Living here, loving Regina and Henry, having her parents, being pregnant - it's all pretty damn amazing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Swan Queen, angsty

"Regina." Emma whispered her name, leaning forward and pressing her lips to the mayor's.

It was as though she was kissing a live wire. Energy crackled in the air between them. Emma could feel it. The darkness seemed to be slipping away, replacing it with light. Emma held tight, pulling her closer.

With a gasp, Regina realized what was happening. She pulled back and angrily pushed Emma away.

"Enough!" she shouted. "You think that you can break the curse and take away my power? You think I would allow that? You will never win. I will never let you take away my happy ending. I will destroy you first."

Emma stared at her in disbelief, angry tears slipping down her cheeks.

"You're a fucking idiot, Regina." She growled.

Pulling out Henry's book, she flung it at Regina's feet, laughing bitterly as it flipped open to the perfect page.

"True love's kiss will break any curse." Emma said, motioning to the book in front of her. "You're the one who said it. You're the one who knows it better than anyone. And you're too damn power hungry or stupid to realize what it means. Well, I hope you're happy with your happy ending."

And with that, Emma turned on the heel of those damnable boots and stalked out of the house, slamming the door angrily behind her.

It was only after she'd gone that Regina looked down at the book, her eyes widening as she took in the picture of herself with Belle all those years ago. The words she'd spoken flashed through her mind.

_"A kiss born of true love would do it."_

Her heart suddenly sped up, as Emma's tear filled face flashed in her mind.  _"You're too damn power hungry or stupid to realize what it means."_

True love's kiss. But that meant... Emma loved her?

And then her own words taunted her again.

_"And if he doesn't love you, well then, the kiss won't even work."_

But the kiss had worked. For a few seconds, she had felt it all breaking apart. But that couldn't be. Because that would mean... No.

"Oh, yes, dearie." Gold's voice sounded and she whirled around to see him sitting at her desk. "Our poor little Miss Swan loves you. Truly. And you love her the same. But you've pushed her away, broken her heart and forever trapped yourself."

Gold's smile was vindictive. Regina felt her stomach turn. "Fitting, isn't it? You told my Belle the truth and I told your Emma. But we were both too blind to see it ourselves."

"No." Regina still refused to believe it.

"The power meant more than anything. It still does." Gold stood up and moved over to Regina. "We'd do anything to keep it. We  _have_  done everything to keep it. And now we'll pay the price. All magic comes with a price, your majesty. And you and I, we've paid the biggest price of all."

And then he was gone, just as quickly as he'd appeared and Regina was left alone, with only Henry's book.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Emma/Regina -"Apples fall like raindrops, three drops of blood on snow can make a child, mirrors and birds can talk" - Richard Siken

It was supposed to be better now that the curse was broken. She was supposed to have her happy ending with Emma and Henry – the life she’d always wanted. But there could be no happy ending for her.

She learned that as she watched the white snow under Emma’s feet turn suddenly red with blood.

* * *

The apple tree stood in the courtyard of Snow White’s palace, where it had stood for years before. In the past, it had been her only form of comfort. Now, it mocked her.

"Regina."

She turned to take in Snow, standing in the doorway. She looked at her for long moments, but Snow shook her head slowly. She turned back toward the apple tree.

"Regina, please." Snow’s voice reached her ears, but she refused to turn back.

The apples hung, glinting red in the moonlight.

* * *

Entering the bedchambers, she shut the door tightly behind her, trying to block out all light. She wanted the darkness.

"Your majesty."

She spun to face the mirror, anger flaring.

"The child is –"

"Shut up!" She raged.

"But my queen –"

She slammed her hand angrily into the glass, shattering it and sending the image away.

Blood dripped down her hand and fell on the floor.

One. Two. Three drops.

Red as blood.

Red as her apples.

* * *

Emma had taken a chainsaw to her tree in Storybrooke. There were no chainsaws here, but there were axes.

With each whack of the ax, apples shook and fell from the tree.

"Regina!" Snow rushed forward, throwing herself in front of the tree.

There was a time when she would have gladly swung the ax again, but as the apples continued to fall, she could only look at Snow and drop the ax to her side.

"Don’t do this. Please." Snow said, her eyes still on the ax in the older woman’s hand.

"Why do you care?" She asked, desperation in her voice.

Snow moved forward, reaching out. “She wouldn’t want you to do this. Not now. Not after everything. Please, don’t do this.”

The ax dropped from her hand. It fell beside the apples on the ground that was still covered in snow.

"I know what it’s like. But my father –"

Her eyes flashed, angrily. “I am not your father! I am nothing like him!”

Snow closed her eyes for a moment and then moved passed the older woman. “She looks just like you.”

She closed her eyes against the words, trying to make them disappear.

* * *

"Show her to me." She spoke to the fractured glass.

A distorted image began to appear, but instantly she could tell that it was of the nursery and not of what she wanted to see.

"Stop!" She hissed and the image faded.

"Your majesty –"

"Show me Emma." She demanded. Through the cracks, the mirror looked almost sad.

"I cannot show you what you wish to see."

"Show me Emma." She demanded again.

The image changed. It showed the blonde, lying so still on the bed. Henry sat beside her, holding her hand, with tears slipping down his cheeks. She quickly turned away.

"There is something more you need to see." The mirror spoke.

"No. No more." She kept her back to the mirror.

"Yes, your majesty."

And then she heard it. Emma’s voice, weak and strained, over the sound of the infant’s cries. “You have to tell her. Promise. She has to hear this. Regina, please. I want you to name her Eva. Don’t blame her, ‘Gina. Please. She’s our happy ending.”

The voice faded away and she felt tears pouring down her cheeks.

"Emma." She whispered to the room, but there was no answer.

* * *

The nursery was dark and still when she finally entered it.

She stared at the crib on the opposite side of the room for what felt like forever before she finally took her first tentative steps toward it. When she reached it, her knuckles turned white from the grip she had on it, before she could look in.

The baby was not sleeping as she had assumed, but wide awake. When she moved within view, the little girl looked directly up and into her eyes. She felt her heart clench at the sight. Tears once more gathered in her eyes.

The little girl reached up one tiny hand toward the woman who she already seemed to know as her mother.

"Hello," She whispered into the darkness, her voice choked with tears, "Eva."

The little girl smiled up at her and Regina felt the cracks in her heart beginning to be filled. She carefully lifted the infant into her arms, and cried softly over her. “Eva. Eva. Eva.”

* * *

Across the palace, Emma drew in a gasping breath.

Henry looked down at her and then towards the door with a smile.

"It’s about time." He said softly.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Swan Queen: Back in Fairy tale land: Emma has a fight with her parents, they don't exactly agree with her choice of lover.

"Emma," James was practically growling as he watched his daughter push back from the table. Snow said nothing, but watched with sharp eyes as her daughter tensed.

"I think I’ve listened to quite enough for one day, Father. Mother." The way she spoke the titles was bitter, something Snow had never expected to hear outside of perhaps Emma’s teenage years. But those had been stolen away by the very person that Emma and James were currently fighting about.

"If you leave now," James began and Snow felt her heart sink, "if you go to her, then you won’t be welcome back here again."

"James!" Snow hissed, her heart pounding in her chest.

Emma stopped for a moment, looking as though she’d been struck, then straightened her spine. “So be it.”

"Emma!" Snow called, quickly standing up. "Emma, please, can’t you see that this is for your own good? You know the things she’s done."

Emma turned to face her mother and spoke again the words that she had first confessed to her when Snow had been her friend Mary Margaret. “I love her.”

"Emma -" James started again but she turned on him quickly.

"King George tried to keep you from Snow. He told you that you were forbidden from seeing her. He threatened your life to make her stay away. Did you listen?"

James softened just a bit. “No. But -“

"No. No buts. The way you feel about Snow is the way I feel about Regina. And I will be with her, damn the consequences."

"King George wasn’t my real father. He wanted only what was best for his kingdom. He didn’t care about me."

Snow knew what was coming before Emma opened her mouth.

"He was more your father than you have been mine." She retorted.

"And who is to blame for that, Emma?" James was practically yelling.

"You do not want to start placing blame." Emma said, low and dangerous. "Because there is plenty to go around." 

Her eyes cut to Snow and her mother ducked her head.

"She’s evil." James said, but it was as though the wind had been taken out of him.

"Was." Emma corrected easily. "I know what she has done in the past. I don’t care. I still love her. The same as I know what both of you have done and still love you." She eyed her parents, trying to make them understand. "There are no heroes or villains in this story. Just people. People that I love. Now, I am going home to Henry and Regina. I will be back to visit next week, unless you hold true to your word."

She waited for James to speak, but he said nothing, his eyes downcast. “Okay then.” She sighed and moved to the door.

Snow watched, looking between James and Emma before finally calling out to her. “Emma!” Her daughter turned. Snow looked at James once again before she spoke. “Next week, please bring Henry,” she cleared her throat, “and Regina with you. We’ll have a family dinner.”

Emma looked at her mother and nodded, a small smile on her lips. Snow could see the gratitude and happiness in her eyes.

"What are you thinking, inviting that woman into our home?" James asked once Emma was finally gone. "You, of all people, know -"

"I, of all people, know that when a Charming falls in love with someone, they’ll never let anything stop them. Not curses or glass coffins or memory potions or parents." Snow smiled at James. "I’m not willing to lose her again. And she’s right. We’ve all changed. We’re not who we were before. So I’ll deal with Regina if that means I get Emma and Henry, too."

James sighed. “Fine. But I’m wearing my sword the whole way through dinner.”

Snow thought of how ineffective James’ sword had been against Regina before, but just smiled. It was his equivalent of cleaning a gun and she’d give it to him. “I’d expect nothing less.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** The way Regina licks her spoons.

The first time Emma notices it is at Granny’s.   
  
She’s waiting on her breakfast order and Regina is seated at the counter, adding cream and sugar to her coffee. Emma thinks that she’s surprised the mayor doesn’t take it black - like her heart - when she notices the woman pull out the spoon she was using to stir her coffee and put it into her mouth, licking it off in such an off hand yet erotic way that Emma’s brain short circuits and she leaves without her food.. Anything to escape.   
  
The image is not so easily escapable however, and Emma quickly finds herself jealous of a spoon.  
  


* * *

  
The second time it happens, they have taken Henry out for ice cream together. 

Their son is excited and chattering away as he chows down on the icy treat. Emma tries her best to listen and focus only on Henry, but her eyes keep drifting from him to Regina, who has a small dish of ice cream in front of her. Every time she raises a spoonful to her mouth, Emma feels a burning low in her belly and has to clench her thighs together.

The worst part of it is, Regina isn’t even trying to get a rise out of her. The motion is rote, done without even thinking. Her tongue caresses the spoon, flipping it over in her mouth and sucking before releasing. By the fifth bite, Emma has to excuse herself to the restroom, where she splashes cold water on her face.

* * *

  
The third time it happens, they are thankfully alone.

Regina has insisted on making Henry’s birthday cake from scratch and Emma refuses to allow her to do so without being there. It’s not (really) that she thinks the brunette will poison the cake or anything. It’s just that she’s missed out on so much already. So she sits at the kitchen island, watching as Regina mixes ingredients perfectly and refuses to allow her to help.

Things are actually going well - they’re holding a civil conversation and everything - until Regina pulls the spoon she was using to mix the batter out and brings it up to her lips. She starts to lick the spoon off - chocolate batter covering her tongue - and Emma snaps.

She’s got Regina backed against the counter, the spoon pulled out of her mouth, before she knows what she’s doing.

"Emma," Regina breathes - the first time she’s called her by her first name - and it’s shocked but filled with lust.

Emma replaces the spoon with her mouth, and when she feels Regina’s chocolate coated tongue seeking entrance to her mouth, she happily allows it. The spoon falls from her fingers and clatters on the floor as her hands move to tangle in Regina’s hair, but neither woman notices or cares. 

This is better than licking a spoon any day.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Swan Queen as kids

Emma Swan knows a lot more than most ten year olds ever should. She’s grown up fast and in the course of changing foster homes at least a dozen times already (she stopped counting after ten, stopped waiting for her parents to change their mind and come back for her) she’s gained street smarts and survival skills that couldn’t be taught any other way.  
  
Today she’s at the park with some other kids and one of the adults from the group home she’s currently residing in. Emma hates this group home. Not as much as she’s hated some of the others, but the hatred is definitely there and it’s definitely burning bright today as she watches other kids play happily with their families while she is watched by a woman who really only wants her for the money that comes with her. So instead of running off to play, Emma’s sitting by herself, planning her escape.

She’s run away plenty of times. She’s always found, although she’s starting to give everyone a run for their money. If she can make this plan work, she’ll be able to hide out in the woods for a while, then head for the bus station. It’s not like she really has a lot of money, but she’ll figure that out once she gets there.  
  
She sees her chance when the woman turns and heads to check on some of the other kids over by the swings. It doesn’t give her a lot of time, but she can make it if she hustles. She springs up from the bench and starts in the direction of the woods, trying not to go too quickly so as not to look suspicious. She’s just a happy little ten year old girl out for a walk in the park.  
  
She’s almost home free when the cry stops her. She turns, already cursing herself for caring, and notices a small group of boys - four of them that look to be maybe twelve or thirteen - surrounding a dark haired girl of about the same age. They’re saying things to her that Emma can’t quite make out, but she can tell that they aren’t exactly nice from the sneers on their faces, and they’re pushing the girl around too.  
  
Emma can see tears welling in the girl’s eyes, but there’s something else there that gives her pause. Rage is burning brightly in the dark brown eyes and Emma waits to see if the girl will tap into it and use it against her bullies. But after another minute - a precious minute that Emma let slip by watching the girl instead of escaping - she realizes that even though the rage is there, the girl won’t use it.  
  
Emma doesn’t have that problem. “Hey, jerks, why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”   
  
The boys turn and laugh. “You mean like you, squirt?” The apparent ring leader laughs.  
  
"No." She bites out. "You couldn’t handle me."  
  
"Oh really?" The boy accepts the challenge and starts over towards her. Emma’s shooting a look at the girl, trying to get her to run, but she’s staying put, watching everything in something akin to awe. "Let’s test your theory."  
  
The boy moves to simply push Emma down, but before he can even get his hands on her, she hooks her leg around his and tugs forward, knocking him off balance so that she can land a nice blow to his stomach which puts him on the ground. Another of the boys advances on her. This one isn’t afraid to hit a girl, apparently, as he lands a (pretty weak) punch to Emma’s mouth. She tastes the blood from the split lip anyway and rears back, hitting him with a hard right hook that one of her foster brothers had taught her when their foster father took a little too much of an interest in her. Blood begins to gush from the boy’s nose almost instantly. The stinging in her hand is worth it to watch him run away crying.  
  
The other two boys quickly run away as well, and Emma can’t help but laugh a little at that. “Sissies!” She calls after them before looking down at the boy still on the ground. He actually flinches when she moves to stand over him.  
  
"Get out of here. And leave her alone. Or next time, you won’t just get a punch to the gut." She watches him run away before turning to face the girl. "You okay?"  
  
The girl nods. “You didn’t have to do that, you know. I could’ve handled it.”  
  
Emma rolls her eyes. Her hand is stinging, her lip is split, she sees the woman from the group home coming her way, but more than anything, Emma’s ticked that this girl won’t even say thank you. Why did she even bother?  
  
"Sure you could’ve, Princess." It’s meant to be an insult, but ends up coming out kind of like a nickname or term of endearment. And that ticks her off even more.   
  
"What do you think you’re doing?" The woman is pissed, Emma can tell, and she heaves a sigh as she feels a hand wrap around her arm. So much for her escape. What’s that saying? No good deed goes unpunished. Perfect example.  
  
The woman starts to tug her away and Emma doesn’t even fight it. There’s not really any use. But the dark haired girl speaks up suddenly. “Wait! She didn’t do anything wrong. She was just helping me.”  
  
That gives the woman pause, enough to let go of Emma’s arm anyway, but her eyes are still trained on her, as though waiting for the girl to make a run for it. It’s not like Emma isn’t thinking about it. She could probably totally outrun her, but she finds that suddenly she’s too tired. Escape will have to come another day.  
  
"You have five minutes to talk to your friend. Then we are leaving." And the threat is there, so Emma merely nods and watches as the woman walks just a little bit away.   
  
"I’m sorry if I got you in trouble." The dark haired girl says and it actually looks like she means it.  
  
Emma shrugs. “Not the first time I’ve gotten in trouble. Anyway, you shouldn’t let those guys bully you like that. Just give ‘em a good punch next time.”  
  
The girl bites her lip and manages a small smile. She knows that she couldn’t ever punch somebody. “Yeah, maybe.” Then she looks at Emma and actually gives her a genuine smile. “Thank you, for saving me.”  
  
Again Emma shrugs. “It’s not like I’m some White Knight or something. But you’re welcome.”  
  
The girl looks like she wants to say something, but Emma can see the woman from the home starting her way. “I gotta go.” She says, already moving away.   
  
The older girl frowns. “Will you be back?”  
  
Emma offers her a small smile. “Don’t know. Hope so.” And it’s not even really a lie. “See ya around, Princess.”   
  
Her social worker comes the next day, giving Emma a lecture about fighting before she has her pack her things and get in the car. As they drive away, Emma’s glad that she’s escaping after all, but feels just a little sad at not seeing the dark haired girl again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Swan Queen - literally magical in bed

Ruby - or Red now, she guesses, but she’ll always be Ruby to her - has tears running down her cheeks from laughing so hard. Emma feels the anger radiating off of Regina and she really doesn’t want the night to end in bloodshed - enough excitement has already been had, thank you very much - so she tries to diffuse the situation.  
  
"Rubes, it’s not funny." She protests, but Ruby just keeps laughing.  
  
"Oh come on, Em, it so is. You - she - you -" She’s gasping for air from laughing so hard, and she’s not the only one who’s finding the whole situation funny. Emma’s just thankful that Henry’s with her parents and none of them are here. Although she feels certain that they’ll all hear about it one way or another. They might not have cell phones and email here, but gossip still spreads like wildfire. Except maybe that’s not the best expression to be using right now.

Regina’s eyes flare in warning. Emma spots Kathryn - or Abigail or whatever - in the crowd and gives her a look that she’s so thankful the other woman understands.  
  
"Come on, Regina," the other blonde soothes with absolutely no hint of laughter in her voice - although Emma can see the amusement in her eyes - taking her arm gently, "come back with Frederick and me and we’ll get you all cleaned up."  
  
Regina glances at Emma. She’s still pissed, Emma can tell, but she’s also looking a little rattled. Emma reaches out and squeezes her hands. “Go ahead. I’ll stay and finish up here and then I’ll come over there, if Kath - Abigail doesn’t mind.”  
  
Abigail smiles at her. “Of course we don’t mind. Come and stay as long as you need.”  
  
Emma looks at Regina. “I’ll be an hour, tops. Okay?”  
  
Regina finally acquiesces, although she touches Emma’s arm gently where a strip of white bed sheet has been tied over a rather nasty burn. “That needs looked at.”  
  
"You can heal it later. It’s fine for now."  
  
Regina nods and turns to go with Abigail. Emma’s voice stops her. “Hey, Regina? I love you.”  
  
Regina smiles, but it fades quickly when Ruby’s voice breaks in. “Yeah, and we all know how much.”  
  
"Ruby!" Emma hisses, and Abigail quickly steers Regina away.  
  
"How bad is it?" She asks Leroy - or Grumpy now - as he and the others come out of the house. They’re not regulated to the mines anymore, for which Emma is glad. Although she kind of wishes that they weren’t the volunteer fire department either, seeing the wicked smirk on Leroy’s lips.  
  
"Not bad. The bed’s not salvageable -" Ruby nearly falls over with laughter. Granny tries to shoot her a reproachful look, but fails miserably at keeping the smirk off her own face - "but the rest of the place should be fine. There’s some smoke and water damage, but it should be easily fixable."  
  
"Thanks guys." Emma says and she means it, no matter how humiliating this has been.   
  
"N-no - achoo - problem, Emma." Sneezy smiles.  
  
"Next time," Grumpy smirks, "just try not to get so… heated."  
  
"Alright, ha ha, joke all you want now," Emma rolls her eyes, "but after this, it’s done. You can’t keep bringing it up to Regina."  
  
Everyone nods their understanding, but continues to laugh and joke.  
  
"Come on, Em." Ruby cajoles once she manages to calm her laughter down a little. "Now that Regina’s gone and you know everything is okay, you have to admit that it’s funny. I mean, you guys caught the bed on fire."  
  
"Not purposely!" Emma blushes.   
  
Regina is still getting used to having her powers back, although Emma feels fairly certain that this situation has never happened before, not by the way Regina reacted anyway. And Emma actually feels kind of smug about that. Apparently she’s the only lover that Regina’s ever had that caused the woman to actually start a fire with her magic during sex.  
  
Ruby gets a glint in her eye. “I think we should make shirts,” she proclaims. “We could embroider them to say I Survived The Swan Queen Sex Fire of 2013!”   
  
Everyone bursts out in more laughter and approval. “You better not let Regina hear you calling it that.” Emma warns, but she’s laughing too. “You know she hates that celebrity naming stuff as it is.”  
  
"I’ll make you one special, Ems." Ruby winks. "I Started The Swan Queen Sex Fire of 2013!"  
  
"Ruby." But there’s no reproach in her voice, not anymore. She thinks she might actually like that shirt, if she didn’t know Regina would kill her for wearing it.  
  
"Ohhhh, your sex is on fire," Ruby sings, completely ignoring her.  
  
"You two do seem to have a thing with fire, don’t you?" Grumpy leers.   
  
"Alright, enough." Emma calls when Ruby switches songs and starts singing ‘I went down, down, down, and the flames went higher’ with way too much emphasis on the ‘I went down’ part. "You’ve had your fun, and I’m sure you will continue to, but do it at your own houses." Then she offers a smile. "Please."  
  
They all begin to disband then, wishing Emma well with amused faces as they go. Ruby stays, even after Granny heads back with a warning that she better not stay out too late. She hooks her arm through Emma’s with a smile.  
  
"You’re not mad are you?"   
  
Emma rolls her eyes. “Not really.”  
  
"You think Regina is?" She asks, as they start to head for the main road.   
  
"I think she’s embarrassed, more than anything." Emma admits. "But your teasing wasn’t helping. You’re lucky she didn’t catch you on fire."  
  
"I think you’re the only one that makes the sparks fly with her." Ruby laughs. "I am sorry, though." Emma knows that she isn’t really. It’s okay. If it had been anyone else, she probably would’ve done the same as Ruby.   
  
Emma bumps their shoulders together as they get to the main road. They have to separate here. “Goodnight, Ruby.”  
  
"Night, Emma. You and Regina have fun. But try not to start any more fires, huh?" Emma just rolls her eyes.  
  
Two days later, Emma laughs when Ruby gives her a needlepoint that proudly proclaims ‘I Started The Swan Queen Sex Fire of 2013’ complete with a picture of a bed that’s on fire. She hides it away in a drawer so Regina doesn’t get mad about it.  
  
Three days later, Emma quickly douses the sheets with water from the bucket she’s taken to keeping next to the bed. And this time, Regina laughs right along with her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Regina  & Emma (& Henry if you want) are invited to David & Kathryn's for dinner. Emma's feeling particularly frisky and tries to get a reaction out of Regina while they're sitting next to each other at the dinner table.
> 
> **Warning:** This ficlet contains sex between ladies. Skip if you need to.

Emma doesn't know what possessed her to say yes when David had invited her to dinner that night, except maybe that Mary Margaret wasn't going to be home - another date with Dr. Whale, no matter how much Emma disapproved of that ridiculous idea of a relationship - and she couldn't cook to save her life.

She didn't really think it would be that bad of a time. She liked David and Kathryn seemed nice enough, so she could totally sit through dinner with them. Except that when David answered the door, Emma realized quickly that it wouldn't just be the three of them for dinner after all.

"I hope it's okay that Kathryn invited Regina and Henry, too." David said as he took her coat.

Emma forced a smile, even as her eyes took in the mayor, sitting regally on the Nolan's couch. "It's your house."

"Emma!" Henry exclaimed upon seeing her, quickly racing over to hug her.

"Hey, kid." She smiled as she hugged him back. "Hello, Madam Mayor."

"Sheriff!" Kathryn exclaimed as she came out of the kitchen. "We're so glad you could join us tonight."

"Please, call me Emma. And it was so kind of you to invite me."

"Dinner is just about ready, if you want to come into the dining room?"

They followed the blonde obediently, sitting down at the table. David and Kathryn sat down next to each other and Henry quickly grabbed the seat at the head of the table, leaving Emma and Regina to settle in the other chairs, side by side.

David poured wine for them, while Kathryn brought out the lasagna she had made. Emma chanced a glance at Regina. The mayor looked completely unaffected by Emma's presence at the table. Well, Emma would see just how long that would last.

As they began to eat, Emma carefully slid her foot out of her shoe, glad she'd decided not to wear her boots tonight. As she carried on a conversation about David's work at the animal shelter, she carefully slid her sock clad foot over and up Regina's leg.

The mayor choked slightly on her wine as she felt Emma's foot caress her calf.

"You okay, Regina?" Kathryn asked in concern.

Regina smiled tightly and nodded. "Absolutely. Just swallowed a little too quickly."

"Do you have any dogs that need adopted, Mr. Nolan?" Henry asked innocently, as Emma's foot crept higher up Regina's leg before stroking back down.

"Henry." Regina's voice was strained. Emma bit her lip to keep from laughing. "We are not getting a dog."

Henry frowned for a moment, before turning to Emma. "What about you, Emma?"

Emma turned to Henry, while her foot still kept up its journey, hidden under the table. "I don't think so, kid. It's not my house, remember? Plus, I'm not cut out to take care of a dog."

"Yes," Regina's voice was almost a purr, but Emma heard the razor-sharp edge too, "Miss Swan has problems following through with things. Don't you?"

Emma smirked at Regina. "Oh, I don't know, Madam Mayor. I think I'm pretty good at following through." She pushed her foot between Regina's crossed legs, forcing them open. Then she pulled her foot away. "When I want to."

Regina's eyes flashed. David took it as a sign of an impending fight, so he quickly cut into the conversation. "So, Henry, how's school?"

Henry began to tell about his day and David and Kathryn seemed focused on him, so Emma allowed her right hand to slip down beneath the table. She picked up her fork with her left hand and carefully used it to eat.

Her right hand crept over and landed on Regina's thigh. She felt Regina shift her hips, trying to knock Emma's hand off, as well as the massive glare that Regina was giving her. Emma just smiled and nodded at what Henry was saying and moved her hand up, so that it teased the waist band of Regina's skirt.

Regina's left hand came down and grasped hers in a painful grip, pushing it away from her. Emma shrugged just a bit, then moved back over, this time playing with the bottom of Regina's skirt, slowly pushing it up the other woman's thighs as her fingers made small circles on the exposed skin.

"Who wants dessert?" Kathryn asked with a smile a few moments later, and Regina abruptly stood up.

"I'll help you, Kathryn." She offered, already grabbing her dinner plate and heading for the kitchen. David and Kathryn exchanged glances and Henry just shrugged.

"David," Emma smiled sweetly, "could you point me in the direction of the ladies' room?"

"Absolutely," David took Emma down the hall and showed her to the door. Once inside, she leaned against the counter and waited.

It took a minute and 34 seconds - not that she was counting - for the door to open to reveal Regina. Emma smirked at the look on her face.

"You think you're funny, Miss Swan?" Regina advanced on her. Emma didn't move.

"Funny? No, that's not how I'd describe me right now." Emma's hands were already on Regina's skirt, pushing it up. "But then you already know that, don't you, Madam Mayor?" She breathed into Regina's ear before she bit down on the lobe. "That's why you made sure that Kathryn invited you and David invited me to dinner tonight, isn't it?"

Regina moaned just slightly as Emma's fingers pushed aside her underwear. "You think very highly of yourself."

"Am I wrong?" Emma asked, her fingers ghosting over Regina's center. She grinned when Regina moaned again and bucked her hips a bit.

"Hurry up," Regina hissed.

"I don't know." Emma shrugged, moving her fingers away. "I apparently have an issue with following through. It might be rearing its head right now."

Regina's nails bit into Emma's skin as she tightened her grip on the blonde. "Enough with the games, Emma."

Emma grinned triumphantly. Getting Regina to call her by her name was always a great victory. And a great barometer of just how badly Regina wanted her. She pushed two fingers in without preamble, grinning as Regina hissed in appreciation.

"What would David and Kathryn say if they could see you now, Regina?" She asked as she continued to pump her fingers in and out. "Getting fucked in their bathroom, still fully dressed, because you couldn't wait. Because you wanted it that bad."

Regina bit down on Emma's shoulder, her hips moving in time with the blonde's thrusts. "They're probably wondering where we are and what's taking us so long. They might come looking for us. You want that, don't you? To get caught with my fingers inside you?"

Emma curled her fingers and rubbed down hard on Regina's clit, grinning in triumph as she felt the brunette shudder and fall apart so quickly. Regina had definitely been turned on by her under the table action, no matter how much she'd try to deny it later. Leaning back on the counter for support, she held Regina up until she stopped trembling, then she pulled her fingers out and turned to wash her hands quickly.

By the time she was finished, Regina had managed to put herself back together, looking just as royal and pristine as she had when she'd walked into the bathroom. "I hate that you can do that." Emma told her as she quickly kissed Regina before leaving the bathroom.

"There you are." Kathryn smiled at her when she entered the dining room.

"I was just admiring your home." Emma smiled back.

"Now if we can just find Regina, we can have dessert."

Emma bit her tongue to keep from saying that Regina had already had her dessert, and instead smiled again.

"Here I am." Regina breezed into the room, settling back down at the table beside Emma. She gave her a wicked little look before she picked up her spoon to dig into the mousse that Kathryn had already put before them all. Emma purposely avoided looking at Regina, knowing she would be licking the damn spoon in that sexy way of hers.

When they had all finished coffee and dessert, Regina announced it was time to go, as Henry needed to get to bed. "This was absolutely lovely, Kathryn. I had a wonderful time."

"Yes, Kathryn, it was great." Emma smiled, rising to leave too. "Dessert was especially delicious."

"Oh, I'm so glad. We'll have to do it again soon."

Emma looked at Regina with an almost predatory smirk. "I'll look forward to that."

"As will I." Regina replied, easily, adding just a little more swing in her hips as she walked out the door, Emma following behind her.

Once they had left, Kathryn smiled as she hugged David. "That was nice."

"It was." David admitted. "Surprisingly so."

Kathryn laughed. "And you thought they wouldn't be able to get along."

"Well, I guess they're learning to co-exist."

"Good for them." Kathryn grinned.

If only she knew just how good it was for them.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Regina/Emma fluff - Emma makes Regina breakfast in bed

Emma walks carefully up the stairs, balancing the tray and cursing just how damn big Regina's house is. It seems like miles from the kitchen to the bedroom, especially when she's doing her absolute best not to topple waffles or spill orange juice. She's still not entirely sure what possessed her to make Regina breakfast in bed - it's not like she's ever done this before and while they have moved to a place in their relationship where she feels comfortable with it – Regina swears they aren't dating but everyone in Storybrooke knows otherwise – it's not exactly an Emma Swan thing to do.

Or maybe it is and she's just never had a relationship that's lasted long enough to do it. But she pushes that thought to the back of her mind, along with all the other similar ones she's been having lately that all add up to a four letter word that she's nowhere near ready for yet.

She nudges the door open with her foot and moves over to the giant bed where Regina is still sleeping. She watches her for a moment, but the tray starts to shake, so she has to set it down on the bed. She's careful not to spill so much as a drop of the coffee or orange juice onto the sinfully expensive Egyptian cotton sheets. She likes her head attached to her body just fine, thank you very much.

"Regina," she murmurs quietly, holding the tray steady with one hand and reaching out to gently stroke Regina's cheek with the other. "Wake up. It's time for breakfast."

Regina's eyes slowly flutter open, clouded with sleep, but beautiful. Emma thinks – not for the first time – that if she didn't care about Regina so much, she'd hate her for looking that good when she first wakes up. It's also times like these where Emma believes that perhaps Regina really is a witch, because outside of television, she's never seen someone look so perfect when they first wake up. There's not a hair out of place, and Emma had certainly tried to change that last night.

Regina gives her a small, sleepy smile that nearly takes her breath away before her eyes go suddenly wide and she sits up quickly as though waking from a nightmare. Her knees bump the tray and Emma feels horror wash over her as she quickly grabs it up, praying that nothing spills. Syrup runs over the plate and a bit of the coffee falls into the saucer under the cup, but thankfully nothing ends up on the bed.

"Whoa," Emma says once she's got the tray under control. She looks back at Regina who is staring at Emma as though she is holding a poisonous viper and not a tray filled with breakfast foods. "Regina?"

"What is that?" Regina tries to keep her tone neutral, but Emma can detect the tiniest hint of fear.

"Breakfast?" She offers weakly, still trying to understand Regina's reaction.

"Why is it here and not in the dining room?"

Emma just blinks. Really? The woman's never heard of breakfast in bed? "Um, there's this thing called breakfast in bed? Usually one half of the couple makes the breakfast and –"

"I know what it is." Regina snaps and Emma frowns. She hasn't used that tone with Emma in private in a long time.

"Okay. Then I don't see –" She chews her lip and suddenly the idea strikes her. "Is it because it's potentially messy? Because I've seen the way you eat, Regina, and –"

"No." Again with the tone.

Emma frowns some more. This was so not the way she pictured this going. With a sigh she rises from the bed, tray in hand, heading for the door. Now she was going to have to go back down all those damn stairs and she's not sure what's going on with Regina, but the mayor will be lucky if Emma doesn't just toss the whole thing down and let it fall where it may.

"Okay. Fine. You don't like it. Sorry." She mumbles on her way out.

"Emma!" Regina calls and she turns back, anger on her features.

"What, Regina?" She'd gone out of her way to do something nice and this is how she gets treated?

"I –" Regina looks suddenly small in the middle of the big bed as she searches for the right words. "I've never had breakfast in bed before." The mayor finally admits, her voice so soft Emma has to strain to hear it.

"Oh." And it takes a moment, but finally everything clicks together in Emma's mind. " _Oh!_ "

Regina's never been in a 'breakfast in bed' kind of relationship before either. And judging by the panic in her eyes, she's not sure how to deal with it. Suddenly Emma is glad that she'd left the vase with the rose in it downstairs, because she's pretty sure that would've sent Regina completely over the edge. There are so many ways she could handle this, but Emma's pretty sure there's only one right way. So she steadies the tray once again and moves back over to the bed.

"Well, in that case," she says as she settles the tray back down over Regina's legs, "you should eat the waffles first, because they'll get cold."

Regina looks up to meet her gaze. The panic is still there, but not as much as before. Emma offers her a simple smile. "It's also customary to share your breakfast with the person who so painstakingly made it."

"Is that so, Miss Swan?" And the smile from earlier finally slips back onto Regina's features.

"It is, Madam Mayor." She replies, already stealing Regina's fork.

"I like how you made waffles, which are your favorites, instead of oatmeal which is mine." Regina comments as Emma chews on her bite.

"Ah, but I brought you an apple." Emma grins, pointing to it with the fork. "Compromise."

Regina picks up the coffee and drinks, watching as Emma cuts another bite of waffle, but this time she holds the fork out to Regina who rolls her eyes, but opens her mouth without any coaxing. Emma smirks when Regina moans just a little at the taste of the waffles.

"Did I forget to tell you that the waffles were apple cinnamon, too?" She smirks.

"Another of your compromises?" Regina asks with a raised brow.

Emma just shrugs. "They go good together. Don't you think?"

Regina studies her, knowing that she's not just talking about the apples and cinnamon, and then she smiles. "They certainly do."

Emma beams back. "See, now was that so scary?"

Regina reaches and grabs Emma's hand, entwining their fingers. "No. It wasn't." Then she leans over for a kiss that tastes of syrup and apples and cinnamon and coffee. And that's when Emma knows that all the hassle of making breakfast in bed – including Regina's reaction when she sees the mess in her kitchen – was so totally worth it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Emma secretly loves Regina's jealous streak. Sometimes she purpously seeks the green monster out.

Emma feels the way the air in the club shifts when Regina walks into the room. It's subtle, but completely noticeable – at least to her. There's an energy that comes with Regina that crackles through the air and seems to seek her out. Usually Emma moves toward it without thought, but tonight she stays put on her bar stool. Regina can come to Emma tonight or she can choose to stay away, Emma doesn't care.

It's not that they've had a fight, exactly. They certainly didn't scream at each other like they've been known to do and no punches were thrown, so Emma doesn't consider it a fight. But she's not sure what she does consider it, except another heated discussion about the fact that Regina can't seem to own up to their relationship in public, yet is possessive and jealous if Emma even so much as smiles at someone.

Yes, the mayor has a jealous streak that Emma is well aware of. And she actually kind of likes it when the green eyed monster comes out to play. But she'd never purposely play on Regina's jealousy just to get her riled up. That wouldn't be very good of her at all.

So when Michael approaches and offers to buy her a drink, Emma smiles and puts her hand on his arm and agrees because it's only the polite thing to do. Not because she has a bit of a bad streak in her.

And when Ashley trips over her heels on the way to the dance floor, Emma grabs her waist and holds her steady for longer than needed because she's a concerned friend. Not because she feels Regina's eyes burning a hole into her back the entire time.

And when Ruby announces she needs to go to the bathroom, Emma quickly links their arms and walks in the direction of the tiny ladies room in the back of the club because women always go to the bathroom together. Not because Regina has been moving steadily closer to her throughout the night.

And when she bumps into Kathryn – newly single and hoping to catch the local gym teacher's eye – she heads to the dance floor with her because if there's any way to get a guy's attention, it's by dancing with another woman. Not because the same is also true for how to get a woman's attention.

So she grinds against the blonde and laughs as they move. She likes Kathryn and she likes dancing and after the day that she's had, she deserves this. Ruby and Ashley join soon, so that they're all moving together, their bodies sliding against each other and their hands grasping body parts to stay upright. It's all perfectly innocent – Ashley is engaged, Kathryn is flirting with the gym teacher, and Ruby is well, Ruby – but to the jealous eye, it doesn't look that way at all. It's when Michael comes over – sweet Michael who's raising his kids now thanks to her – and replaces Ruby's hands with his own that Emma actually feels the air snap and crack under the force of Regina's jealousy.

Before she knows that's happening, Michael's calloused hands are replaced by Regina's smooth, strong ones. "I would appreciate it," the brunette snaps, "if you would keep your hands and other body parts off of my girlfriend."

Ashley, Ruby, and Kathryn all looked shocked, but their reactions are nothing to poor Michael's. "Y-your – your –"

"My girlfriend." Regina hisses at him, her tone so possessive that Emma thinks she might have pushed it just a little too far. But that doesn't stop the heat from gathering in her stomach or the wetness from pooling between her thighs.

"Regina –"

"And you," Regina's grip tightens, "don't think I don't know what you were doing, Miss Swan."

"I don't know what you think I was doing but I was just having a fun night out with my friends." Emma smirks.

Regina lets out a sound that's almost a growl. "Like hell you were."

"Regina –" she tries again, but it doesn't soothe the mayor at all.

"We're leaving. Now."

And as Regina pushes her out of the club, one hand firmly on Emma's ass and the other on her waist, Emma can't help but smile. Yes, Regina's got a jealous streak and Emma loves it almost as much as Regina hates Emma's bad streak.

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Swan Queen FTL, Emma's rather… loud.

Breakfast their first day back in Fairy Tale Land is an awkward affair. Emma, Regina, Henry, Snow, and James all sit around the table, but as much as Henry and Emma try to engage them, conversation is stilted and awkward.

Finally, after their plates have been cleared, Snow clears her throat. "Emma, your – your father and I would like to speak to you for a few moments. Privately."

It's still strange to hear them referred to as her parents, Emma thinks as she nods slowly. But Regina is not as accepting of this request.

"No." The brunette says clearly, her eyes flashing as she glares at Snow and James.

"Regina –" Emma tries to soothe.

"They're going to try to turn you against me." Regina says plainly.

Snow and James both open their mouths, but Emma cuts them off. "Regina, nothing they can say is going to turn me against you. You don't have to worry about that, okay? So please, just take Henry on down to the stables and I'll be there in a few minutes."

Regina looks like she wants to argue but she finally rises and takes Henry's hand. The entire way out of the room she shoots death glares at Snow and James. Neither of them even flinch against them.

Once Regina and Henry are gone, Emma turns back to her parents. "Is she right? Are you going to try to turn me against her? Because if you are, save your breath."

"No." Snow shakes her head. "Emma, we know that you've made your decision and as much as we worry about you, we also trust you."

"We know that you're stubborn and we won't be able to change your mind." James smiles at her. "So we won't even try."

Emma blinks, surprised. "Good. Okay. Great. So then why did you need to speak to me alone?"

Snow and James share a look and Emma swears that there's a light tint to Snow's cheeks when she looks back at her. "While we may be – accepting of your decision to be with Regina, we also need you to understand that the thought of our daughter and Regina… together is difficult to take and –"

Emma looks utterly confused and Snow is so uncomfortable that James decides to just be blunt about it. "Emma, your bedchambers are directly beside ours."

"Okay." Emma frowns. She still doesn't get where this conversation is going.

"While this is a castle made from stone, that doesn't mean that the walls are soundproof."

"Okay? But why would it matter if –" and suddenly the light goes on. Emma's eyes go wide, her expression horrified. "Oh my god! Oh my god! You could hear us?"

Snow keeps her eyes downcast. "We could hear  _you_."

"You're rather – vocal." James forces the words out.

Emma buries her head in her hands. "Oh my god."

James gently pats her shoulder. "Your mother and I are not naïve. We're aware of your relationship with Regina and as we have said, we will not try to stop you. You are both adults. However, you have to understand that just like no child ever wants to hear their parents… doing that, no parent really wants to hear their child either."

At James' words, Emma's eyes go even wider. "Oh my god, Henry!"

Snow quickly grabs Emma's hands. "His chambers are on the other side of the castle. I highly doubt that he could hear you."

But even her reassurances do nothing to ease Emma's embarrassment. "Oh my god, I cannot believe this."

Now it is James' turn to look uncomfortable, not sure what to do now that he's gotten through telling Emma. Snow looks up at him and sees his discomfort. It's her turn to rescue him now. "Why don't you go down to the stables and send Regina back up here?"

James and Emma wear matching faces of concern. "Come on, Charming, do you see a bow anywhere?"

James manages a smile at that and leaves the room. Once he's gone, Emma drops her head to the table. "I'm so mortified."

"Your father and I were last night as well." Snow quips, seemingly over her discomfort now.

"Mom!" Emma gasps out, sounding very much like a scandalized teenager. Tears come to Snow's eyes. It's the first time Emma has called her that. She reaches out and strokes a hand through Emma's hair.

"I think the thing I missed out on most," she whispers, "was getting to torture you with embarrassment."

She and Emma both laugh and Emma wraps her arms around her mother quickly. "Thank you." Snow kisses her head. "But please don't tell me you had James send Regina up to torture her, too."

Snow smiles. "No. I just thought that her magic might come in handy. She's got to have a spell to soundproof a room or two, right?"

Emma nods at this, but then draws back, looking quizzically at her mother. "A room or two? I thought you said Henry couldn't hear us?"

"Oh, I'm sure he can't. But I figure that we'd better soundproof our bedchambers as well." And there's a hint of a wicked smirk on Snow's face. "Just to be safe."

"Mother!" Emma gasps again, laughing.

"Well, where do you think you got it from?" Snow asks with a wink.

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Red Swan - Ruby/Emma: First date
> 
> Obviously from the prompt, this is Red Swan and not Swan Queen. So skip if needed.

Emma absolutely 100% does not believe in the curse. No matter what she might tell Henry, she does not believe in the curse. At all. But today is a really important day and Emma's not willing to risk it on the insanely off chance that it actually does exist.

So she drives out to the border and climbs out of the cruiser. She feels ridiculous, standing there, staring at the 'Now Leaving Storybrooke' sign, but it's nothing compared to how ridiculous she feels when she starts talking aloud - to the sign or the border or the curse or whatever.

"I know that no one is allowed to leave Storybrooke without something bad happening. But you let Henry leave once and he says it's because he was planning on coming back. Well, I'm going to come back. And I'm going to bring her back with me. So I just really need you to let us go and not do anything crazy, okay?"

She waits for a few moments as though expecting for some kind of a sign or booming voice, but nothing happens. So she climbs back into the cruiser and shakes her head. The curse totally isn't real. But if it is, she hopes her appeal works.

* * *

"So where are we going?" Ruby asks with a grin as she climbs into Emma's Bug.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" Emma smirks, putting the car into drive and heading for the main road.

"Oh come on, Emma, please." Ruby pouts and it's totally adorable.

"I want this to be special." Is all Emma will say, her eyes trained on the road in front of her. Her stomach flips just a bit when she sees the sign - but she does not believe in the curse, not even a little bit - and she repeats in her head over and over 'we'll be back, we'll be back, we'll be back'.

She exhales when they make it past the sign with no problems and Emma eases the car onto Highway 95. Her fingers fidget over her cell phone as she drives farther away from Storybrooke. Henry was on Granny duty with the promise to call if anything seemed at all off with the woman. But as the miles stretch on and so does the silence, Emma finally feels like she can breathe again.

"Emma, where are you taking me?" Ruby asks again, watching out the window as mile markers fly by.

"You'll see." She smirks, turning on the radio to a pop station that she knows Ruby will like. They sing along as they drive and when Ruby reaches over and takes Emma's hand, she knows that this was the right plan.

Finally, Emma pulls the car over. Ruby glances around and frowns. "You brought me to a rest stop for our first date?"

Emma chuckles. "Not exactly." She reaches into the backseat of the car and pulls out a blindfold. "I told you it was a surprise."

"Emma!" Ruby protests, but Emma's already got the blindfold over her eyes and is tying it.

"It's gonna be worth it, I promise." Emma assures, whispering quietly into her ear.

They drive for a little while longer and then Emma parks the car. She helps Ruby out of the car and guides her along, an arm securely around the waitress' waist. They make a brief stop before Emma continues on.

"Emma, seriously, where are we?" Ruby demands when they finally stop.

"We're here." Emma grins, reaching up and untying the blindfold.

Ruby blinks against the sunlight, her eyes adjusting. Even once they've adjusted it takes her a moment to comprehend what she's seeing and Emma has the sudden awful feeling that maybe Granny had been wrong. But then a huge smile breaks out on Ruby's face.

"Lemurs!" She exclaims, looking into the exhibit where four ring tailed lemurs play.

"I know it's not exactly the adventure you were looking for -"

Ruby cuts Emma off with a kiss - their first. When she pulls away, her eyes are sparkling. "It's perfect. It's just perfect."

She wraps her arm around Emma's waist and snuggles into her side, her head resting on Emma's shoulder. "I can't believe you brought me all this way, just so I could see lemurs."

Emma looks down at her and grins. "Well, I figured it needed to be a pretty great first date if I wanted a second one."

"Oh, this definitely earns a second date." Ruby laughs.

They watch the lemurs play for a while longer before they head off to explore the rest of The Franklin Park Zoo. They end up back at the lemurs on their way out, just to see them one more time. Emma takes pictures of Ruby with them on her phone and smiles when a woman offers to take a picture with both of them. It turns out great and Emma knows it's going to be her new phone wall paper.

As they head out of the zoo, Ruby demands they make a quick stop at the gift shop, but refuses to allow Emma in with her. She comes out a few minutes later carrying a bag.

"For you." She smiles as she hands the bag over.

Emma looks puzzled until she pulls out a small stuffed lemur. "I thought lemurs were your thing?" She asks with a grin.

"They are." Ruby beams. "But this is to remind you that you're my lemur."

And to Emma, that sounds like just about the best thing she could be.

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Emma/ Regina: In which Emma finds out Regina secretly watches the L word

She's not sure exactly what she was expecting to find when she went snooping around in the cupboards in the living room after she'd finally gotten Henry to bed, but it definitely wasn't this. In fact, she's pretty sure that she would've been less surprised if she'd found spell books or boxes of hearts like Henry claims Regina keeps around. Anything but this, really.

At the same time though, as much as it shocks her, it also intrigues her. What other secrets is Regina hiding away from everyone? Emma would very much like to know. She briefly considers calling Ruby to get her take on the situation, but knows that the entire town would hear about it by morning, so she squelches that desire and decides to go straight to the source.

It's about an hour later when Regina comes back into the house – and Emma does her best not to think about the former late night council meetings that Regina attended. She'd actually left the house for this one, which she supposes is a good sign that there actually was a meeting. Also, the brunette looks exhausted in a 'god, I can't believe the idiocy of some people' kind of way, rather than a 'god, I was just screwed six ways to Sunday' kind of way. So there's that.

She turns her attention quickly back to the TV, trying to seem nonchalant about the whole situation. Regina is wearing a large frown when she enters the room and Emma has to stifle a laugh as she crosses her legs, which are currently resting on top of the mayor's coffee table.

"Really, Miss Swan, I know you didn't have any parents but –" She stops her sure to be rather hurtful rant about Emma's lack of couth when she realizes what's playing on the television. "Wh-what are you doing?"

Emma turns and smiles brightly. "Oh, just watching The L Word, waiting for you to get home. Henry zonked around 9 and I got bored so I figured I'd watch some TV to pass the time. Only there really wasn't much on, so I borrowed some of your DVDs. I hope that's okay."

"I – those – they certainly aren't –"

Again, Emma just smiles. It's kind of fun to see the usually unflappable Regina flustered. And all over a TV show. "Don't worry, my lips are sealed."

Emma offers a wink as she stands up, ejecting the disc and putting it back in the case. Then she walks the case back over to the still open cabinet door where she carefully places it back in its designated spot.

Regina's eyes are blazing with anger, but Emma can see just a tiny hint of uncertainty and fear in them. She stops in front of the mayor and holds up her hands. "Seriously, Regina, whatever you watch - hell, whatever you do - in the comfort of your own home is your business and no one else's. I'm not going to say anything to anyone. But honestly, lots of politicians have lived through worse scandals than 'secretly watches The L Word', so I don't think you have any reason to worry."

She moves towards the door, stopping and turning back at the last second. "Hey, Regina?"

Regina turns and looks at her, eyes narrowed. "Maybe sometime I could come over and we could watch some episodes together?"

"You watch The L Word?" Regina sounds suspicious.

Emma grins. "Of course I do. I love Bette. Strong, sexy professional woman who can rock a power suit?"

Emma's eyes run up and down Regina. "What's not to love?"

Regina opens her mouth but finds that she can't seem to form a reply. Emma shrugs and turns back to the door. "It was just a thought."

She's walking down the front porch steps when Regina's voice stops her. "Henry will be on a nature hike with his class for most of the day on Saturday. Perhaps then…"

Emma bites her tongue to keep from smiling too much as she turns around and nods, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Sounds like a plan."

"And Miss Swan?" Regina allows a tiny smirk to play on her face. "I prefer Shane. Tough, tomboyish woman who wears a white tank top like that?" This time Regina looks Emma up and down. "How can I resist?"

Emma does smile then, puffing her tank top covered chest out just a bit. "See you on Saturday, Madam Mayor."

Regina watches her go with her own smile. This was one secret that she suddenly finds herself not minding being uncovered.

 


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Emma/Regina, bachelorette party
> 
> **Note:** I took this in a slightly different direction than perhaps intended, but hopefully it is still enjoyable. Also, since the show had Ashley drinking underage, I just kinda went with it. I do not, however, encourage underage drinking.

Emma had never really had friends before she came to Storybrooke. Of course there had been a few childhood friends, but she'd learned quickly that getting attached to anyone just made it hurt all the more when she inevitably got pulled away and placed somewhere else. So from the time she was eight, she made it a kind of a goal not to have friends. And she maintained this practice for twenty years, never forging anything more than acquaintances with anyone.

But then she'd come to Storybrooke and somehow, her walls had fallen - first with Mary Margaret and then with Ashley and Ruby - until they were having girls nights and confiding in each other and leaning on each other for support.

Still, it had come as a shock when Ashley walked into the station wearing a nervous smile and asked if Emma would be her maid of honor in her wedding.

"Wh-what?"

"Will you be my maid of honor?" Ashley repeated almost fearfully.

"I - why me?"

Ashley smiled widely. "You were a friend to me when no one else was. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have Alexandra or Sean or anything. Please say yes, Emma."

"I -"

"Please."

"Ok." The word wasn't even out of her mouth before the younger blonde had flung her arms around Emma in a bruising hug.

Due to the small nature of the wedding, her maid of honor duties - Emma came to find out - consisted of one trip to the dress shop with Ashley, Ruby, and Mary Margaret to pick out gowns and throwing the bachelorette party. Because she'd never had friends or been asked to do anything of any importance like this before, Emma was determined that she would throw the best bachelorette party ever.

Storybrooke wasn't exactly equipped for such planning - Emma had the vague suspicion that this might be the first bachelorette party the town had ever seen - so she had to turn to the internet. She'd never been so thankful for the fact that the FedEx man could apparently come and go from Storybrooke with no problems as she was the week before the party.

And now, as she fell on the king size bed at the B&B with Ashley and Mary Margaret giggling like mad and Ruby holding on to her like a lifeline, she felt like she'd accomplished her goal.

"Tat wuzzz sooo fuch mun." Ashley slurred, the sparkly light up tiara that proclaimed 'bride' half hanging off her head, and Emma congratulated herself for throwing the party two nights before the wedding. Otherwise, Emma was sure she'd be out of commission.

"It really was, Mema." Mary Margaret mumbled.

Before Emma could reply, her phone rang. She carefully removed herself from the bed and walked to the other side of the room. "Hello?"

"Emmaaaa," Ruby whined in the background, "come back to bed."

"Well," Regina's voice was icy, "I was going to ask how the bachelorette party was going, but apparently it's going just fine."

Emma rolled her eyes and turned back towards the bed. "Rubes, put your leg out over the bed so your foot touches the floor. That'll stop the spinning."

She watched as Ruby did as instructed before focusing back on the conversation. "Yes, it is just fine. Ruby, Ashley, and Mary Margaret are pretty wasted and I'm the sober one who has to watch over them for the rest of the night."

"Ah." The ice melted. "So you managed to get Miss Blanchard drunk, too. I'm sorry I missed that."

"Hey, you were invited." Emma reminded her, trying not to sound upset at Regina's repeated refusals to attend. Emma understood that Regina didn't feel comfortable with the other girls, but she still wished that the mayor had tagged along anyway. If she had, maybe it would be Regina drunkenly copping a feel instead of Ruby.

"Yes, yes." She could tell Regina was rolling her eyes. "So, what excitement did I miss?"

"Well," Emma toyed with the sash that was still wrapped around her, proclaiming 'maid of honor' in pink sparkly letters, "we started out the night by going to the new playground."

"How scandalous." Regina teased.

"It was to symbolize Ashley's last night of childhood or – something." Emma frowned. The girls had liked it and they'd had fun goofing around for a while, but now talking to Regina, everything seemed stupid and childish. She'd totally thrown the worst bachelorette party ever.

"And after the playground?" Regina prompted when Emma didn't continue.

"Oh, we uh, went out for dinner, toasted Ashley and Sean, you know. Then after dinner we went to the Rabbit Hole."

"And proceeded to get drunk."

"Not exactly. I mean, sort of. Everyone was buying us shots. I only did the first round, but the other girls kept going. They got buzzed, but not drunk. We danced and had fun for a while, but then we had another destination." Emma didn't mention the penis shot glass necklaces that they'd all been wearing, knowing Regina would just find them tacky and distasteful.

"And where was that, Miss Swan?" Regina asked, with a tone that clearly said she already knew exactly where it was.

Emma chuckled. "It's a bachelorette party, Regina, for a girl," she glanced back over to the bed, where Ashley and Mary Margaret appeared to be conked out, but she lowered her voice just in case, "who has only ever slept with one guy and ended up pregnant at 19 and married by 20. So yeah, we went to a strip club. And if I thought people at the Rabbit Hole had enjoyed having a bachelorette party there, it was nothing compared to at the club. Before the drinks were even gone they were replacing them. So that is where the girls ended up getting really drunk."

"And did you have fun at the strip club, Miss Swan?"

Emma smirked. "Well, there was this one girl –"

"Emma!"

"Regina, I'm joking. The girls were doing body shots off male strippers and having a blast shoving money down their g-strings, and I was watching them and taking pictures. I am still the sheriff, remember? Plus, you know guys aren't really my thing."

"Well, I hope that you had fun tonight, because you are sorely mistaken if you think you're doing this before our –" Regina stopped abruptly, as though she had just realized what she said.

Emma bit her lip – hard – to keep the smile off her face, even though Regina couldn't see it through the phone. They'd never really talked about where their relationship was going – certainly never talked about marriage – but Emma would be lying if she said her heart didn't skip a beat at the thought of marrying Regina. So to know that Regina had thought about it too, at least a little, made her want to giggle like a school girl.

"Don't worry," she said when she finally felt like she could manage her tone, "I don't think I could handle another bachelorette party for a while anyway."

"Good." Regina said quietly.

"But you know, I could handle… what comes after the bachelorette party." Emma said softly. "If that was ever a question."

"Yes, well…" Regina cleared her throat quietly.

"Emmaaaaaa, the room's spinning again." Ruby called from the bed, saving them both from the conversation.

"It sounds like duty calls, oh maid of honor."

"That it does." Emma sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Come by the house after you get the girls returned to their homes."

"Will do." Emma smiled. "Night, 'Gina."

"Good night, Emma."

Emma clicked the phone closed and crawled back into the bed, where Ruby promptly latched on to her and Ashley instinctively snuggled closer to her.

"This really was the best night, Ems." Ruby mumbled and Emma grinned to herself.

"You know, Ruby, I think you're right."

 


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Swan Queen - finest quality
> 
> **Note:** I feel like this may not be what the anon prompter was hoping for. My own ideas kinda took it over. But I hope you still enjoy it. None of the songs used herein belong to me, nor does anything else. I blame American Idol and Pretty Woman for this. Also, there is implied sex between ladies here, but nothing described graphically.

Regina had always had a taste for the finer things in life, and when she had been queen and had magic at her disposal, it had been easy to appease those tastes. In Storybrooke it hadn't been so easy, but Regina had made it a point to always have the finest quality of everything, even if - and perhaps especially if - she didn't need it.

So it was that her home was equipped with the finest furniture, the best decorations, the most expensive draperies, the most luxurious linens. If she couldn't be a queen in title here, she would at least live as a queen in her own home. And that went all the way down to the grand piano that no one ever played - Henry had taken lessons for a year before rebelling against them - that was housed in what had been dubbed 'the music room' but was really one of the rooms that the attic had been divided into.

It was a gorgeous, deep red piano that had been custom made for Regina. It shined in the light of the sun and sparkled in the moonlight. Regina kept it perfectly polished and tuned, although no one ventured near it anymore. Or at least no one had ventured near it in quite a long time.

But when Regina returned home late one night from a council meeting, she swore she heard the sounds of chords floating down to her from the upper levels. Regina moved toward the sounds, kicking out of her heels and setting her purse down as she went. She wondered, as she climbed the stairs, what it was that had driven Henry back to the piano, especially so late at night.

But when she pushed the door to the music room open, it wasn't Henry she found seated at the piano, but Emma. The moon shone in through the window, causing the red lacquered wood to sparkle and casting a halo around Emma's long golden curls, which cascaded down over her shoulders and fell against the gorgeous black silk nightgown that Regina had bought for her - also of the finest quality. The picture that she presented - the contrast of the blonde and black and red - nearly took Regina's breath away, and she watched as Emma continued to pluck at the keys, obviously not noticing the mayor's presence.

Chords and scales were played through a few more times before Emma's fingers settled over the keys and then began to move with the ease of a practiced pianist. She recognized the melody that the sheriff was playing right away, and closed her eyes allowing it to wash over her. There was no denying that Emma was a damn good player.

Her eyes flew back open when a voice floated across the room to her. She stared, amazed that the voice belonged to Emma. She'd never heard the woman sing before, but her voice was beautiful.

_"When I find myself in times of trouble_   
_Mother Mary comes to me_   
_Speaking words of wisdom, let it be_   
_And in my hour of darkness_   
_She is standing right in front of me_   
_Speaking words of wisdom, let it be_

_Let it be, let it be_   
_Let it be, let it be_   
_Whisper words of wisdom_   
_Let it be"_

Emma continued to play, even as she turned and smiled at Regina. "You're home."

Regina looked surprised. "How did you know I was here?" She asked, moving closer to the younger woman.

"The air shifts when you come into a room." Emma winked at her. "Plus, you gasped when I started to sing. Am I really that bad?"

"No." Regina shook her head, sitting down on the bench next to her. "No, you're amazing. Where did you learn to play and sing like that?"

Emma looked back down at the piano, watching her fingers move for a few moments. "Oh, here and there. I worked at a piano bar in Florida for a while."

"A piano bar?" Regina's nose wrinkled.

Emma laughed. "Full of surprises am I." She bit her lip for a moment and then transitioned from Let It Be to another well known standard.

_"It's nine o'clock on a Saturday_   
_The regular crowd shuffles in_   
_There's an old man sitting next to me_   
_Makin' love to his tonic and gin_

_He says son can you play me a memory_   
_I'm not really sure how it goes_   
_But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete_   
_When I wore a younger man's clothes"_

"Piano Man? Really?"

Emma nodded. "It's a classic, Regina. And before you start going on about Bach and Beethoven, remember that you're talking to me. Besides, it was the first song that I learned how to play. I figured if I could play it well, it wouldn't matter how much I sucked at all the others. And I was right."

"I can't imagine you playing any song poorly, not after what I've heard."

"Oh believe me, I sucked for a while. But like I said, in a piano bar if you can play Piano Man you're set. Plus it didn't hurt that I wore low cut dresses. I picked up the rest in time."

Emma let the melody trail off and turned so that she was looking at Regina. "Why didn't you tell me you had a piano?"

"I didn't think -" Regina paused. She'd said some very hurtful things to Emma in the past, but she'd been trying not to purposely wound the woman now that they were doing whatever it was that they were doing.

Emma just smiled and finished the older woman's thought. "That I'd be cultured enough to play the piano."

"Emma."

"No, it's okay. That assumption is understandable. But how come I've never seen you play? I mean, you've got this amazing piano."

"I don't know how to play." Regina confessed quietly. "I played the violin briefly in my youth but I preferred to spend my time riding rather than playing an instrument, which drove my mother crazy. I signed Henry up for lessons but he didn't take to them at all."

Emma smirked and bumped her bare shoulder against Regina's. "Finally, something that I'm better at than you."

Regina rolled her eyes and allowed her head to drop down on Emma's shoulder, her fingers trailing down the blonde's arm and resting on top of Emma's on the keys. "Play something for me."

It wasn't exactly a request, but it wasn't a direct order either, so Emma let it slide. She glanced over at the brunette, studying her for a few moments before she nodded and flexed her fingers. Regina lifted hers off, but kept her head where it was. Emma began to play.

The tune sounded familiar to Regina, but she couldn't place it. Emma hummed along at first, through what sounded to be the first verse and chorus and then she began to sing.

_"Well your faith was strong but you needed proof_   
_You saw her bathing on the roof_   
_Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you"_

She glanced down at Regina for a moment, taking in the mayor in the moonlight.

_"She tied you to her kitchen chair_   
_She broke your throne and she cut your hair_   
_And from your lips she drew a hallelujah_

_Hallelujah, hallelujah_   
_Hallelujah, hallelujah"_

The emotion in Emma's voice caused Regina to lift her head, taking in the blonde as she played, the song somehow taking over her whole body.

_"Baby, I've been here before_   
_I know this room, I've walked this floor_   
_I used to live alone before I knew you_   
_I've seen your flag on the marble arch_   
_Love is not a victory march_   
_It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah_

_Hallelujah, hallelujah_   
_Hallelujah, hallelujah"_

Emma continued to play the melody, building it up to a crescendo as she did.

_"Maybe there's a god above_   
_But all I've ever learned from love_   
_Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya_   
_Well it's not a cry that you hear at night_   
_It's not someone who has seen the light_   
_It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah_

_Hallelujah, hallelujah_   
_Hallelujah, hallelujah"_

Emma continued to sing the chorus as she played the song out and Regina watched her, amazed.

"That was beautiful." Regina whispered when silence finally settled over the room.

Emma looked at her for a moment, a ghost of a smile on her lips. "It reminds me of you."

Regina opened her mouth as though to protest, but Emma placed a finger against her lips. "I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It's just a true thing."

Regina kissed Emma's finger as she looked at her, amazed again at how well the blonde could read her. Emma reached up and threaded their fingers together. "Someday I'll teach you to play if you want. But for now -" she stood and pulled Regina up with her, turning the mayor so that she was pressed up against the piano. In one swift movement, she picked the older woman up and set her on top of the piano, gently pushing her back, until she was laying on it with her bare feet dangling down.

"Emma." Regina gasped.

"Shh." Emma whispered as she pushed Regina's skirt up her thighs and nudged her legs apart before putting her hands back down on the keys. As she began to play the song again, Regina swore she could feel the vibrations of the piano chords moving through her body. Then Emma leaned forward, her hair tickling Regina's thighs and her breath making Regina gasp as she moved towards her destination, her eyes glittering in the dark, her fingers still moving gracefully over the keys, her voice going straight to Regina's core. And Regina was once again reminded of just why it was so good to have the finest quality of everything - especially in a lover.

_"Well there was a time when you let me know_   
_What's really going on below_   
_But now you never show that to me do you_   
_But remember when I moved in you_   
_And the holy dove was moving too_   
_And every breath we drew was Hallelujah"_


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** The full prompt was: 'Emma or Regina is married in Storybrooke... so when Swan Queen happens, it's an affair.' I decided to go with Regina being married to Graham. Also, this is rated R for language and mentions of sex.

It's not like this is the first time that Emma's been 'the other woman' in her life. She's slept with married men before and while she can't say that she's always been proud of herself, she can and does own up to everything that she's done in the past. And she's done worse than sleeping with someone who had a ring on their finger. But this is the first time that she's been 'the other woman' to someone's wife.

She's still not sure exactly how they ended up like this - hating each other in public and fucking each other in private - but Emma can't bring herself to feel guilty about it. She should, she supposes, not least because Graham is a good man and what she and Regina are doing only has the potential to hurt him and Henry both. But they've been on this collision course from the moment that Henry showed up on her doorstep, and Emma can't seem to make herself leave, no matter how many times she - and Regina - tells herself it would be better for all of them if she did.

So she goes on, integrating herself into the town and into the life of the son she gave up, working with Graham during the day and slipping away while he's on night shift to climb into his window and take over his husbandly duties, twisting her fingers until Regina's gasping her name, then walking down the street with a smile the next day.

She knows what the townspeople think, what they whisper about her when they think she isn't listening, and she can only laugh and shake her head. Because they're right. They're right about Regina and Graham's marriage being in trouble and they're right about the way that Graham looks at her and the way Regina hates her. They're right about everything - except which spouse it is that she's screwing.

So when Graham kisses her outside of Granny's and proclaims that "you don't know what it's like with her! I don't feel anything!" Emma just turns and walks away. Because she does know exactly what it's like with Regina. And Graham might not feel anything, but Emma certainly does.

God help her, but she does.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Halloween costumes
> 
> **Note:** I was playing around with style, so this came out as dialogue only.

"No."

"Oh, come on, Regina."

"Absolutely not."

"Why not?"

"Why not? You're really asking me that question?"

"It's Halloween. It's supposed to be fun!"

"I fail to see how wearing that costume could ever constitute as  _fun_."

"You could show people that you actually have a sense of humor, for one thing."

"My sense of humor is no one's business."

"Regina, Henry really wants -"

"Henry wants me to wear that costume because he thinks I'm the Evil Queen."

"And have you ever thought that by refusing to wear it, you're just proving his point even more?"

"Please? If not for Henry, for me?"

"For you?"

"You're gonna look so damn sexy. So yeah, for me."

"Emma -"

"If you wear it, I'll let you choose my costume."

"Henry isn't choosing your outfit?"

"Not in the book, remember? Besides, if it means you'll wear the Queen get up, I don't think he'll care."

"And whatever I choose, you cannot refuse?"

"*gulp* Nope. No refusal."

"Deal."

* * *

"Wow! You actually wore it!"

"You wanted me to, didn't you, Henry?"

"Well yeah, but -"

"Well, I wore it."

"That's really cool, Mom. So, where's Emma?"

"Oh, I'm sure she'll be down in a minute."

"You know, sometimes I really hate you, Regina."

"Now, now, don't be like that."

"Uh, Emma, why are you dressed like Glinda from the Wizard of Oz? I thought you were going to go as a cop?"

"That would've been a little too on the nose, don't you think, Henry? Besides, Emma looks adorable in that big, puffy pink ball gown. It suits her so well."

"I'm going to kill you by the time the night is over, your majesty."

"Uh, uh. We had a deal, remember?"

"Um, guys, can we please go? I wanna get some candy before trick or treat is over."

"Certainly, Henry."

"Sure, kid."

"Ugh, you guys are so weird. Next year, I'm going by myself."


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** FTL - Queen Regina/Princess Emma go on a picnic… fluff

Emma looked up with a grin as she heard the sound of a horse galloping in the distance. She strained her eyes against the sun, the grin blossoming into a full blown smile as she caught sight of Regina, riding across the open field bareback. The sight filled her with happiness, mostly because Regina looked so relaxed and happy when she was riding this way.

They'd been back in fairy tale land for a few months and it hadn't been the easiest of adjustments for anyone. But for Regina it had been hardest, Emma was sure, and she was glad that the beautiful woman could find comfort in something.

Regina guided the horse into an easy jump over the small hedgerow that separated the field from the edge of the forest where Emma was currently set up with her horse and then slowed him to a stop just in front of Emma. She swung down from the steed easily and Emma allowed her eyes to sweep over the woman, taking in her leather pants and simple riding shirt and jacket, as well as the long braid down her back. She looked amazing and Emma would've been content to simply stare at her all day.

"You're amazing." Emma breathed finally, still taking everything in.

Regina shook her head, a frown slowly working its way back onto her face. "I'm not. I shouldn't have been riding bareback. A lady never -"

"There are many things that we have done," Emma cut her off, reaching up and tugging the other woman down into her arms, "that a lady would probably never do. Are you going to tell me you think we should no longer do them?"

"No, but -"

"Uh uh." Emma shook her head. "No buts. We don't have to prove anything to anyone here, 'Gina."

Regina said nothing, just allowed her head to fall against Emma's shoulder as the blonde tugged the tie holding Regina's braid together loose. She gently worked her fingers through the dark hair, toying with it softly. "There. That's better."

Regina hummed against Emma's neck, enjoying the moment of solitude and comfort. Being back had managed to stir up all sorts of emotions and memories she'd thought were long dead and having to be separated from Emma for most of the time was beginning to wear her down. "Missed you," she whispered against the blonde's neck, so low that Emma didn't actually hear the words, so much as feel them.

"I missed you, too." She said, gently pushing Regina back so that she was looking into her dark eyes. "And I swear that we won't be apart much longer. I'll tell Snow and James -"

Regina placed her finger on Emma's lips, silencing her. "You and Henry's safety is most important now. We will continue on this way as long as it will take to keep you safe."

Emma rolled her eyes. "I can take care of myself, you know, and I've no doubts about your abilities to protect Henry and me, if it came to it. It's you that I'm worried about. I won't allow anyone to harm you, Regina. Not ever again." Her green eyes blazed with the truth of her promise.

"My White Knight," Regina smiled softly, running her fingers through Emma's hair. "Let's not worry ourselves with those matters now. Our time is limited."

"And I'll be very disappointed if my picnic goes to waste." Emma grinned, her hand motioning to the rather large spread she had set up.

Regina finally glanced over at it, taking it all in before turning to Emma with a smile but a look of shock on her face. "How on earth did you manage this? I know you couldn't have possibly brought all that by yourself with just your single horse - not without at least two saddle bags."

Emma smirked, leaning over and picking up a bunch of grapes, popping a few into her mouth before offering one up to Regina's lips. "Don't you know by now that I'm resourceful, your majesty?"

Regina grabbed Emma's wrist holding it in place. "I am well aware of your resourcefulness," there was a glow in her eyes that meant she was well aware of the double meaning of Emma's words, "but I also know that you couldn't pull this off alone."

"Who said I did?" Emma shrugged, leaning around Regina to grab a slice of apple, which she took her time in nibbling on.

"Who helped you?" Regina questioned, pulling Emma's hand back towards her mouth so that she could take a bite of the apple as well. She was well aware of the fact that the only reason she hadn't been put to death or worse yet was because Emma and Henry had stood up for her, refusing to allow her to be hurt. Snow and James had gone along with it - begrudgingly - to please their daughter and grandson, but neither would be willing to help Emma set up this picnic rendezvous.

"Well," Emma grinned, stealing a quick kiss from Regina, before snagging another slice of apple, "it just so happens that I have a friend who happens to know these woods pretty well. And she's good with preparing and delivering food. Has a nice little basket and everything."

"Ruby?"

"It's actually Red now, your majesty," came the saucy reply from within the forest, causing Regina to shift away from Emma quickly.

"Red!" Emma called, but her laughter let her know that she wasn't really mad. "I told you we'd be fine and we didn't need you hanging around. Especially because you're only eavesdropping, you big gossip."

"I resent that accusation." Red laughed as she walked out of the woods. "After I went to all this trouble to help you."

Emma smiled but cut her eyes to the side in a glance that Red followed. She took in the sight of Regina, on the ground near Emma, looking nothing like the formerly imposing mayor of Storybrooke or her vague memories of the even more imposing Queen. Instead she looked unsure and worried, her eyes darting between Red and Emma as though something drastic was about to happen at any minute.

Red knelt down beside her. "Hey, Regina, it's okay. I'm on your side here, I promise."

Regina stared at her as though trying to ascertain if she was being truthful. "Why?" She finally asked.

Red laughed then, just a little, before schooling her features into a more serious expression. "Because Emma is my friend and she loves you. And you're different now. You're not her anymore. You're not bent on destruction. You make my friend happy, so yeah, if you need to sneak away to the woods for a picnic - or something else - until everyone calms down and gets over the whole 'kill the Queen' phase, I'll help in any way I can."

Regina looked a little shocked at Red's bluntness, but Emma just laughed and slung an arm over her shoulder. "Thank you, Red. And now you may help us by getting out of here so that we can enjoy our picnic in peace."

Red laughed and stood. "Just leave the leftovers, I'll come back later to clean it up. And Emma, there's a patrol on the main road, so you may want to go back through the forest the way you came, just to be safe. Regina, if you go back through the fields, you should be fine. Have fun you two." She winked, as she headed back into the woods.

Emma waited for a few moments before she turned to look back at Regina. "She's right, you know."

Regina raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"I do love you. And you do make me happy."

Regina swallowed and looked down at her hands in her lap before glancing back up at Emma. "I love you, too." She whispered. "More than I should."

Emma's answering smile was beautiful as she reached out and squeezed Regina's hands, forcing bad memories away. "I think you love me just enough." She winked, moving closer to Regina, with something like a predatory gleam in her eye. "Now, we should really eat, because we don't have all that much time. And I'd very much like to get to the 'something else' portion of the evening before we have to go."

"So would I." Regina smirked. "So would I."


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Ruby remembers who she is and turns into the wolf every full moon.
> 
> **Note:** The anon who prompted said that the relationship/pairing was up to me, so this turned out to be sort of Red Swan.

"Ruby, this is insane." Emma tries again for the tenth time that hour, looking through the bars at the young waitress.

"You think I don't know that Emma?" Ruby sighs as she looks out from the jail cell. "But I'm telling you the truth."

"That you're some kind of werewolf who needs to be locked up so that you don't go around Storybrooke eating everyone?" Emma moves closer to the cell with a worried look on her face.

"Don't open the door, Emma." Ruby cautions, her eyes going to the small window in the cell, where she can see the darkness beginning to creep into the sky. "In fact, you should leave."

"Yeah, okay. I'll just leave you locked in a cell all night - for no reason, I might add - all alone. That's totally gonna happen." Emma's eye roll rivals the best of Regina's.

"I know you don't believe me, Emma." Ruby says, moving over to the bars so that she can look Emma in the eye as she speaks. "I wouldn't believe me either. But this is true. And when I change - I won't know who you are. And if you're near me - terrible things can happen, Emma."

There are tears in the younger woman's eyes and Emma moves closer, reaching through the bars to grab her hand. "Ruby."

Ruby steps away suddenly, her eyes going impossibly wide. "You need to go, Emma."

Emma stands her ground, opening her mouth to tell Ruby that she's being ridiculous, but the words die on her lips as she sees the waitress begin to transform before her eyes.

"Holy shit!" Emma gasps as she jumps back from the bars, her eyes taking in the sight of Ruby transforming, but her mind not comprehending it at all.

A minute later, there is a large black wolf pacing back and forth in the cell and no trace of Ruby whatsoever.

"Ruby?" Emma whispers, moving back toward the cell, only to stop dead in her tracks when the wolf turns and catches sight of her, lunging forward, jaws snapping. Emma jumps back again as the wolf growls, teeth gnashing, but not before the wolf manages to bite her hand.

"Jesus." She hisses as she watches blood drip from the wounds on both sides of her right hand. She supposes she should be lucky that the wolf's teeth didn't go the whole way through her hand and had instead just pierced the skin.

She moves away from the cell, grabbing the first aid kit to try and tend to her wounds, even as her eyes stay trained on the wolf. The wolf that is apparently one of her best friends. Which, if what Ruby says is true, means that all of Henry's curse nonsense isn't really nonsense anymore. But Emma can't think about that right now. Instead, she pushes those thoughts aside, bandages her hand, and moves slowly back toward the cell.

She holds her hands up in a gesture of surrender as she goes. "Ruby, it's me. It's Emma. I'm not going to hurt you and I'd really appreciate it if you didn't hurt me." She kneels down on the floor near the cell, but not close enough for the wolf to get at her. "I'm going to just sit down right here. I'm going to sit here and I'm going to stay with you tonight, okay? I'm not going anywhere."

The wolf snarls and growls in response and Emma knows that what Ruby had said earlier is true. She has no idea who Emma is at that moment. But that doesn't deter Emma, who just stays on the floor, talking softly to the wolf, trying to sooth her. Eventually, she settles down, sprawling out on the floor, but her eyes still stay trained on Emma.

"You can go to sleep, Rubes. It's okay." Emma whispers to her, even though she's fairly sure the waitress can't understand her. "I'll stay awake. No one will hurt you."

The wolf makes no motion at all, just continues to stare at Emma. Emma continues to sit on the floor, staring right back, and muttering what she hopes are soothing words to the wolf through the night.

Finally the dawn breaks, and Emma watches through blood-shot eyes as the large black wolf morphs back into her friend. When the change is over, Ruby is left huddled on the floor, body curled into the fetal position. She's crying softly and Emma's heart aches.

She opens the door to the jail cell and enters slowly, as though still worried that Ruby might change back and lunge after her, tearing out her jugular with ease. But Ruby makes no move at all when Emma enters the cell.

"Ruby." She whispers, crouching down beside her and gently running her hand across the younger woman's back.

"Emma?" Ruby's face is streaked with tears and she's shaking slightly. "It's true isn't it?"

Emma blinks and then nods. "Yeah. It's true."

Ruby cries harder then and Emma pulls her into her arms. "Shh. It's okay. We know now, and we know where we can put you that you'll be safe. We'll figure it out." She whispers into dark hair.

Ruby pulls back and looks at Emma then. The blonde looks exhausted. "You stayed."

"Yeah." Emma nods.

"You stayed all night." And the tears are back again, coming harder now for reasons Emma can't understand. Emma does her best to keep her bandaged right hand hidden, not wanting to upset Ruby any more.

Emma wraps her up in her arms, holding tight. "Of course I stayed. You're one of my best friends, Rubes. I'd do anything for you."

The words burn bright in her chest, branding over the ache that's always been there, even when she couldn't remember it. Ruby is exhausted both physically and mentally, so she lets herself collapse against Emma. She's petrified that Emma's apparent devotion will lead the blonde down the same path as Peter, but for now the moon is gone, the danger is passed, and Emma feels strong and sturdy beneath her. It is the most comforting thing Ruby's felt since she began to remember, so she clings to it tightly, unable and unwilling to let go.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Red Swan. Breaking the curse.

Emma enters Granny's to find Ruby and Henry on either side of a booth towards the back of the diner, their heads pressed together as they look at something on the table between them. It makes for a cute sight, Emma has to admit, so she waits a few seconds before making her presence known.

"What are you two up to?" She asks finally, approaching the table.

Both heads snap up and look sufficiently guilty at being caught. Emma glances down to the table to find Henry's book lying open on its surface.

"Hey Emma." Henry smiles at her. "Ruby was just trying to help me with Operation Cobra."

Emma raises an eyebrow at the waitress, who just smiles sheepishly. "The kid looked like he could use some help."

"Uh huh." Emma smirks. "And what have you two managed to come up with?"

"We think we figured out how to break the curse!" Henry says in a hushed voice, excitement bursting through.

"Oh really? And how are we supposed to break the curse?"

"It's simple really." Ruby grins up at her. "In fact, I can't believe you didn't think of it, Emma."

Emma frowns at that. "What is it?"

Ruby and Henry exchange a glance before he gives her a little nod. "True love's kiss." She proclaims with a smile.

"True love's kiss?" Emma sounds skeptical.

"Hey, if it worked for Snow White and Prince Charming, not to mention Sleeping Beauty and her prince, who's to say it won't work this time?" Ruby defends.

"And who exactly is it that needs to kiss their true love to break the curse?"

"You, duh!" Henry exclaims. "You're the savior."

"Me, huh?" Emma looks between them again before she reaches down and grabs Ruby's hand, pulling her up to a standing position and then pressing her lips to the waitress' red ones.

The kiss lasts for a decent amount of time, but besides Ruby swaying slightly and Henry looking away in mock embarrassment, nothing else happens. "Sorry kid, looks like there's no curse after all. Or if there is, it isn't true love's kiss that's gonna break it."

Ruby's eyes go wide as she looks at Emma, a huge smile spreading across her face. "That was true love's kiss?"

"Well, I thought so." Emma replies, her eyes searching Ruby's even while she tries to keep up her bravado.

Ruby shakes her head and pulls Emma back to her for another longer, more passionate kiss. "That," she smirks when they pull away, "was true love's kiss."

Henry looks outside, searching for any sign of a change within the town, but there isn't one. He looks back at Emma and Ruby, who are both still holding onto each other, just staring into one another's eyes, and then glances back down at his book. True love's kiss apparently isn't going to work this time, so it's back to the drawing board again.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Swan Queen - Pregnant Regina and Emma cuddles on the couch thinking about baby names

"What about Mary?" Emma asks, clearly only half serious, but Regina still shifts to shoot a death glare at her. "So I'm guessing Margaret is out too?"

"Not funny." Regina's voice is deadly serious.

"I'm not trying to be." Emma assures, her fingers skimming Regina's protruding stomach. "We could call her Maggie."

"Absolutely not."

Emma opens her mouth to remind Regina that she'd named Henry after her father, but quickly snaps it back shut. She's still learning how to navigate her relationship with Regina, but she knows that the subjects of their parents are always fraught with tension and she's not willing to go there today. Not when she's laying on the couch with Regina's body pressing back against her, cradled in her arms, lists held in their hands as they discuss names for their daughter. She won't shatter the serenity of this moment for anything - especially not something that would only end up causing Regina pain if she brought it up.

"Rachel is a pretty name."

"No." Emma's reaction is just as swift as Regina's was.

"What's wrong with Rachel?"

"One of my foster sister's names was Rachel. She was -" Emma shakes her head, "I will not give my daughter that name."

" _Your_  daughter?" Regina raises her eyebrow, but already crosses Rachel off her list.

"Our daughter." Emma corrects herself, looking over the list she's made up. "Charlotte is nice."

Regina's nose wrinkles. "She'll get the nickname Charlie. Adela?"

"Because it means noble?" Emma laughs, not revealing that she had jotted that name down too.

"There is nothing wrong with having a royal name." Regina sniffs, obviously offended.

Emma shows her list, pointing out the name scrawled in her own hand. "No, I suppose there isn't."

"You picked it too?" Regina's voice trembles just a bit and Emma presses a kiss against her temple.

"Well, she's going to get the nickname Princess anyway so…"

Regina grabs Emma's hand and squeezes it, palms pressing together, fingers twining.

Emma smiles and knows that if she doesn't do something to make light of the situation, she'll have a crying Regina in her arms. And that's something that she's still not equipped to handle, savior or not. So she takes a deep breath and gets ready to sacrifice herself.

"Apple?" She ducks even as she says the name, afraid Regina will actually hit her this time.

"Also not funny." Regina hisses, and Emma is pleased that it has at least chased the tears away.

"Hey, if Gwyneth Paltrow can name her kid that, why can't we? You love apples!"

"To eat, not to name my child after!"

" _Your_  child?"

"Are you two still fighting about names?" Henry asks as he enters the living room, smiling at the sight of his mothers laying together on the couch, even if they appear to be quarreling.

"We're not fighting." Regina insists.

"We're just discussing."

Henry rolls his eyes. "You've read all those books, made all those lists, thrown them all out and still haven't made a decision yet."

"This isn't an easy decision to make, Henry, no matter how much your mother may try to make light of it."

"I'm not trying to make light of it!" Emma defends. "I know how important this is. You did such a good job the first time and I can't come up with something anywhere near as good or special or -"

Regina struggles to push herself up, turning to face Emma. She reaches out, laying her hand on Emma's cheek. "Hey. Your names, with the exception of the obvious jokes, have been lovely choices."

Emma shakes her head. "They're not good enough for her. This is probably the most important decision of my life. Because she is my life. Her and you and Henry, you're my whole life. You're everything."

"Well, there you go." Henry smiles.

Regina and Emma turn to him with confused expressions. Henry holds up one of the various baby naming books that has been scattered on the floor, showing them the page he's turned it to.

His finger is pointing out one name that they all say together. "Eva."

"It means life." Henry tells them. "And that's what she is, right Ma?"

"It's perfect." Regina breathes as Emma nods.

"It is." Emma nods, her hands going back to Regina's stomach. "Eva."

"Eva Marie." Regina whispers and Emma's eyes fly over to her. It's not exactly the same as naming Henry after Regina's father, but it's more of a concession than Emma ever thought she'd make and it proves once again just how much Regina does love her.

"Really?"

"If you both approve." Regina smiles softly.

"Eva Marie Mills." Henry tries the name out. "I like it."

"I think she likes it too." Emma murmurs as she feels the kick against her hand.

Henry places his hand next to Emma's, smiling widely when he feels the kicking too. "Hi, Eva." He whispers to Regina's stomach.

Regina lets her hand fall over both of theirs, feeling completely content in the moment. Underneath her palm she can feel Emma and Henry's hands and Eva's kicks against them and she knows that they've made the perfect choice for their daughter's name.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Swan Queen FTL - Emma is in Regina's castle and stumbles upon her sex dungeon while exploring.

Emma presses her hand against the large metal door, feeling the cold seeping into her fingers. The voice inside her head that sounds an awful lot like Regina is telling her that now is the time to turn back, that she's not supposed to be down here in the first place, and that this is always the part in horror movies and video games where the protagonist is attacked and killed. But she's never been that good at listening to her inner voice, especially not when she's bored out of her mind and looking for any kind of adventure she can get.

A world without radio, television, and internet is really as boring and awful as it sounds, and though Regina has gone out of her way to try to make Emma feel comfortable and at ease in her castle, there are some creature comforts that she just misses. Plus, with all the meetings about treaties and alliances and whatever else it is that they don't deem her important enough to attend, Regina is gone most days, leaving Emma to be even more bored. As such, she's taken to exploring the castle, trying to get herself acquainted with her new home and looking for excitement while she's at it.

So far, it's actually been kind of disappointing. Regina had shown her the vault where she kept her stolen hearts the day that they had returned, and since then, all Emma's exploring has turned up is a lot of big rooms with dusty furniture in them - nothing at all evil or sinister except for Regina's dark decorating tastes. But this is the first time she's ventured down into the depths of the castle and Emma's pretty sure that she's going to find something today.

So, with a deep breath, Emma reaches down and pulls on the large metal handle, pleased when the door comes open with no resistance. Using the torch that she's brought with her - and really, can they not get some electricity here? - Emma illuminates the room, stopping in surprise as she takes in the contents.

"Emma?"

Regina's voice causes her to spin around, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. Regina doesn't sound angry, but Emma is still having trouble reconciling the woman she fell in love with in Storybrooke with the Evil Queen she was here - and standing in this room, looking at Regina in her full queenly regalia, she feels a fissure of fear course through her.

"Regina, I -"

"I see you've found my playroom." Regina's voice is nearly a purr as she moves into the room.

"Play - playroom?" Emma's eyes take in the various chains, shackles, whips, paddles, cages, and other furniture that look almost like torture devices and she laughs out loud. "Jesus, Regina, it's like American Horror Story in here."

Regina rolls her eyes and sighs. "I have no idea what you're referring to."

Emma laughs at that too. "Of course you don't! Because we don't have television here. But trust me, this -" she waves her hands around the room, moving over to the mannequin where there's an actual latex suit on display, "this is apparently where they did their research for that show."

Regina's smile is almost feral, but Emma can see the hint of fear in it too, as she moves closer to her. "And is that a bad thing?"

Emma looks from Regina to the suit and back. "I - I don't think so." She shrugs. "It's something exciting at least."

"So you're not afraid?"

Emma reaches out and twines her fingers with Regina's. "This isn't my first time at the rodeo, cowgirl." She smirks. "Although this is probably the most elaborate sex dungeon I've been in. Also, the only actual dungeon."

Regina laughs - her wicked little laugh - at that and Emma winks. "So, are you done with your meetings for the day?"

"I am. Why, Miss Swan?"

"Well, it appears that this room hasn't been used in quite a while and I think we need to rectify that."

"Really?" There's still the hint of worry in her voice, so Emma purposely pushes her back towards the wall where there are shackles.

"Really. Just don't expect me to put on that rubber suit. And if I see it so much as move, I'm out of here."

Regina waves her hand in the direction of the suit and in a puff of black smoke it disappears. "Better?"

"Getting there." Emma slips the cuffs around Regina's wrists, securing her there with a grin. "Most definitely getting there."


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one didn't have a prompt, it was just me rewriting a scene from the Season 1 finale to go the way I wanted it to. Some actual dialogue taken from the show.

Emma clutched the egg as the elevator ascended, her heart beating rapidly. She had just fought a dragon - an actual  _fucking_  dragon - to get a potion to save her son from a curse. It was just like something out of a fairy tale, but it was real. It was all real, like Henry had been trying to tell her all along. The fairy tales were real, magic was real, and the only way to save Henry was to give him a potion made from true love. It was insane.

But Henry believed she was some kind of savior, and right now he needed her to live up to that no matter how much she just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. There would be time for that later, when Henry was awake and safe. Besides, she'd already accomplished the hard part – she'd slain a fucking dragon. Henry would go nuts when she told him.

The elevator clanked to a sudden halt, cutting off her train of thought. "Regina, what the hell was that?" There was no answer and Emma felt panic rise within her. Why wasn't Regina answering her? "Regina?"

A voice soon reached her, but not the one she was expecting to hear. "Miss Swan? You've got it?"

"Mr. Gold." She breathed, looking up at the face of the man whose eyes were trained on the egg that she was still clutching. "What are you doing here?"  _Where's Regina?_  she wanted to asked, but forced herself not to.

"I've come to check on you. I'm glad I did. Regina's abandoned you. Sabotaged the elevator."

"What?" Emma gritted out, her eyes going wide. No. That couldn't possibly be true, could it? "I'm coming up." She moved to the side of the elevator, ready to try and climb up. It wasn't that far and she needed to get out of here now.

"No. There's - there's no time for this. You can't possibly scale the wall and carry that." Gold protested.

Emma frowned at that. She damn well could and who was he to think otherwise? She'd show him. "Yeah? Well I can try."

"No, you can't." Gold argued back. "Just toss it up. Your boy's gonna be fine. I promise. We're running out of time. Toss it up."

Emma hesitated for a moment, searching his face. Finally, she agreed. "You hold on to it. I'll be right up."

She tossed the egg up, watching as Gold caught it, a gleam in his eye. He moved out of her sight.

"Mr. Gold?" She called after him, feeling anger begin to grow for what he'd done. God damn him.

"Gold!" She yelled angrily as she climbed out of the shaft only to see Regina bound and gagged in a chair. Gold's work, no doubt. The bastard.

"Regina." She raced over, pulling the duct tape off the mayor's mouth in one swift go.

Regina looked livid. "He tricked you. How could you give him that?"

Emma worked on loosening the rope that bound Regina's wrists. "Calm down and hold still." She mumbled, focusing on the knots and wishing she hadn't left her father's sword in the dragon's dungeon. She'd have to go get it back at some point.

"Calm down?" Regina shrieked. "My son could die because you were stupid enough to fall for Gold's tricks!"

Emma bit back the words on the tip of her tongue, the ones that were aching to break free, to scream that Henry could die because Regina had tried to poison her. They'd already had that fight and they didn't have time for round two. With an almost viscious tug, the knot finally gave way and the rope fell to the floor, freeing Regina. Emma stood back up and reached into the pocket of her jacket.

"I didn't fall for his tricks." She pulled the vial with the potion out of her jacket, shoving it toward Regina. Regina gasped at the sight of it. "He fell for mine."

"Wh – how?" Regina reached out, running her fingers over the vial.

"I wouldn't put Henry in danger, ever, so I decided to make sure the vial was safe." Emma replied as she slipped it back into her jacket pocket. She didn't mention that keeping the vial safe had been partially about making sure Regina wasn't going to try and steal it either.

"Plus, you might have happily left me trapped down there," Regina didn't even try to argue and Emma found that she was glad for that, "but you'd never purposely put Henry in danger either, so I knew he was lying about you abandoning me. Gold wanted the egg and he got it."

Regina looked at Emma with wide eyes. "You didn't believe him. You believed me." She'd been tied to that chair cursing Emma with everything she had in her for being so damn gullible, for ruining everything, and the entire time, Emma had known that something wasn't right. Because she knew that Regina would never purposely endanger Henry, even after everything that had happened.

It had been so long since someone had believed her, since someone had believed in her, even about something small, that Regina felt tears prick at the back of her eyes.

"Yes," Emma nodded, "and we can talk about all of this later. But right now," Emma grabbed one of Regina's hands in her own, "let's go save our son."

Regina looked down at the strong hand holding hers, feeling the determination rolling off of it almost like her own magic used to. Emma Swan had gone on a suicide mission to kill a dragon and she'd come out the victor – the savior. And she'd beaten Gold at his own game, believing in Regina over him.

For the first time since she'd seen Henry in that hospital bed and realized that Emma knew the truth, Regina actually believed that they could save him - that perhaps everything could be saved. She squeezed Emma's hand and then moved in time with her to go and save their son.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** AU: Emma and Henry are put in charge of a 5 year old Regina Mills.

"What've we got?" Detective Emma Swan asks as she ducks under the crime scene tape to enter the house where her partner, Detective Ruby Lucas, already is.

"Looks like a pretty standard murder-suicide, but I'll know more once I get the bodies back to the morgue." Dr. David Nolan, the medical examiner, explains.

"Rubes?" Emma's eyes take in the crime scene, trying to pick up on any details that may be important to the case.

"No sign of forced entry. I've got some of the guys out canvassing, but so far, it seems like Dr. Nolan is right. Neighbors heard them fighting, said it wasn't unusual for these two, so they didn't bother calling. There've been at least five domestic calls here in the past year alone. It wasn't until they heard the shots that they called. And by that time…" Ruby motions to the ground where the bodies are already covered.

"Yeah." Emma sighs, shaking her head. On one hand, this was an open and shut case, but on the other, she hated to see things go wrong like this. "So what, the husband finally had enough and shot her, then couldn't handle it and offed himself?"

"More like the other way around." David says, lifting up the covering for Emma to see. "Husband's been shot at least three times. Wife only has one wound, to the head."

"Jesus." Emma hisses, her eyes still moving around the room. There's something niggling at the back of her mind, but she can't figure out what it is.

"What's wrong, Ems?" Ruby asks, noticing her partner's look.

"I don't know. Just – I'm missing something."

It's when David is loading the body bags onto the stretchers that Emma realizes what it is that she's missed. "Oh no."

"Emma?"

"No, no, no." Emma murmurs to herself even as she moves through the house, back the hall to a small bedroom. It's empty, but only serves to prove her instincts right. "Shit." She rubs her hands over her face before starting back through the house, this time her senses on overdrive. Finding people is what she's good at and right now, there's someone she's got to find.

"Everybody shut up." She calls out, waiting until something like silence descends on the house before she keeps moving. It's when she passes the small closet that she hears it. It's so soft she thinks she could be imagining it, but her gut tells her she's not.

"Detective Swan? What is it?" Another officer asks, but she waves him away as she carefully opens the closet door.

"Oh god." Ruby whispers when the light hits the closet, revealing what's inside.

Emma kneels down slowly and carefully holds out her hand. "Hi, sweetheart. My name's Emma. I'm here to help you, okay?" She says softly as she takes in the frightened expression on the little girl's face. "Will you come out here to me? I won't hurt you, I promise."

The little girl continues to cry, but she flies out of the closet, clinging to Emma with all the strength her little body can muster.

"Shit!" Sean, one of the officers that's been out canvassing, bursts in then. "Neighbors just said that there's a daughter. Regina. She's five."

"Yeah." Ruby sighs as she helps Emma straighten up. "We got that."

* * *

"Detective Swan," Chief Graham's voice carries across the bullpen.

"Yes, sir?"

"Would you care to explain why you're holding a child who is not your son in my bullpen?" There's no anger in Graham's voice, just curiosity, which Emma is thankful for as she carefully shifts the sleeping little girl in her arms.

"She's the daughter of our murder-suicide vics, sir." Ruby explains for her. "We think she saw the whole thing. And from what we can tell, it looks like she may've been abused as well. Emma's the one who found her hiding in a closet and she hasn't let go of her since. We're waiting on Kathryn from CPS to get here."

Graham just sighs and nods at Ruby before he turns to Emma. "You okay, Swan?"

"Of course, sir." Emma tells him and he almost believes her.

"You know," Ruby says as she fills in some paperwork, "you never did tell me how you knew she was there before Sean came in."

Emma shifts the little girl in her arms, which causes her to whimper in her sleep and cling to Emma tighter. "There was a picture of a baby on their wall. But it didn't really connect until David was loading the bodies and I saw that the father had a beaded bracelet on his wrist. Looked like something a kid would make. As for actually finding her, she was crying so hard I could hear her when I passed the closet."

"Damn," Ruby whispers, still mindful of the young presence, "no wonder they call you the Savior."

Emma just rolls her eyes at the nickname that's been bestowed upon her by some of the other detectives on the force. She doesn't feel like anyone's savior, let alone this poor little girl's.

"Detectives." They both look up to see a well dressed blonde coming towards them.

"Kathryn." Emma stands up to greet the social worker.

"Hello, Emma, Ruby." Kathryn offers them each a smile. "And this must be Regina."

Emma nods and turns so that Kathryn can see Regina a little better.

"What'll happen to her?" Ruby asks as she looks at the sweet little girl still sleeping on Emma's shoulder.

"Well, I've checked everything I could and there doesn't seem to be any family. Mr. Mills had a will, leaving everything to Regina or for her care, but there was nothing listing who she should go to. As such, we'll have to consider her a ward of the state. I'll take her back with me for the night and then tomorrow we'll start to look for a place for her. Ideally a good foster home, but possibly a group home or orphanage. The goal is to find someone to adopt her, but that takes time."

Ruby notices that Emma holds Regina just a little bit closer at the mention of the foster system and can't help but frown. She knows about her partner's less than happy past in the system and hopes for something better for Regina.

Emma swallows hard and moves to hand Regina over to Kathryn. As she feels herself being shifted, Regina stirs and then wakes completely, panic washing over her features as she realizes that she is no longer being held by Emma. She begins to gasp for breath and look frantically for Emma, struggling and reaching out for her when she sees her.

"Shh, shh. It's okay, Regina. It's okay." Emma tries to assure, but it does nothing to calm the little girl who continues to scream and cry in Kathryn's arms.

Kathryn begins to move away from them, hoping that once she gets the little girl away from Emma that she'll calm down, but she just continues to fight and scream. Emma keeps her back to them, unable to look at the sight, but when Regina begins screaming her name - the first words she's spoken since they found her - Emma can't control her own tears.

* * *

"Hey Ma!" Henry greets her at the door with a smile and a hug.

"Hi, baby." She hugs him tightly and tries her best to smile back, but she knows it doesn't work.

Henry frowns. Whenever his mom comes home like this, it means something extra bad happened at work. Probably involving a kid.

"Emma?" Mary Margaret, their next door neighbor and Emma's best friend, comes out of the kitchen where she's been making dinner and helping Henry with his homework, seeming to sense that something's not right.

"Hey." Emma offers tiredly.

"You okay?" Mary Margaret asks kindly. "David called. Said it was a rough day."

Emma closes her eyes against the cries that still echo in her head. "Yeah." She glances at Henry. She always worries that she exposes him to far too much for a ten year old, but if that's the only thing she does wrong in this whole becoming a mom at 18 thing, then she thinks she's done okay. "Murder-suicide today. Vics had a five year old daughter who saw the whole thing while she was hiding in a closet."

"Oh, Emma."

"Was she hurt?" Henry asks as he hugs her tight. He's got such a capacity for love and compassion.

"Not because of the shooting; not physically. But she was very upset, of course. And we think that she may have been abused by her parents, too. Probably her mother. She came to me and then didn't want to let go." Emma sinks to the couch and runs a hand over her face. "Kathryn had to take her away kicking and screaming."

"What'll happen to her?" Henry climbs up onto her lap, laying his head against her chest. Emma's fingers begin automatically running through his hair.

"Kathryn said they're going to try to find her a good foster home and then someone to adopt her. She doesn't have any family."

"So she's scared and alone?"

Emma swallows and blinks back fresh tears. She's learned not to cry over the years, not to let the cases get to her, but there are times when she can't help it. "I hope not."

There's silence for a long time as everyone tries to absorb the day. Mary Margaret moves back into the kitchen when the timer on the oven dings and it's then that Henry lifts his head back up to look at his mother.

"What about us?"

Emma's brow furrows. "What about us, Henry?"

"You're licensed to be a foster mother." Henry reminds her. "She wasn't afraid of you. What if we took her in?"

"Henry," Emma cups his cheeks, "you are amazing for thinking of that. But it isn't always that simple. I don't know if they'd let me take her, first of all. And even if they did, have you thought about what that would mean around here?"

"I've got a big room. We could totally fit another bed in there and then she wouldn't have to be alone or afraid at night. I've got a bunch of old toys that she can play with and we can even paint her half of the room pink if she wants, I guess. And I can help Mary Margaret look after her while you're at work. It'll work, Ma. It will."

"You know," Mary Margaret says as she comes out of the kitchen carrying plates for them, "it sounds like he's got this all figured out."

Emma stares at her friend in amazement, taking in the willingness to help with this just like with everything else. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Emma looks between the two before she pulls out her phone and dials a number. "Hello, Kathryn?"

* * *

"EMMA!"

"Hi, sweetheart." Emma beams as she catches Regina up in a hug.

"I think that's the happiest she's been since I took her from you." Kathryn smiles. "I'm really glad you're doing this, Emma."

Emma sighs, her nerves flowing through. But Regina's little arms are still wrapped tightly around her and she can't help but feel good about that. She glances back into the apartment where Henry and Mary Margaret are both waiting. Kathryn nods at her. "All the paperwork is in order. I'll stop back by in a few days to make sure she's getting settled in okay, but for now, she's all yours."

"Thanks, Kathryn." Emma moves into the apartment, her attention focused on Regina. "Regina, I want you to meet some very special people, okay? They are going to help take care of you too, just like me. They won't hurt you either, you understand?"

The little girl buries her head in Emma's neck, but nods. "It's okay, baby." Emma assures, brushing her dark hair back from her face. "This is Henry. He's my son. And this is Mary Margaret. She's my best friend. And they're both very excited to meet you."

"Hello, Regina." Mary Margaret smiles. Regina peeks out at her, then quickly hides her face again.

"Hi, Regina." Henry says as he comes down to kneel in front of her. "I'm really excited that you're going to be my new sister. Do you like fairy tales?"

Regina's dark eyes peer out at Henry as she lifts her head. After a long moment, she slowly nods her head one time. Henry smiles widely at her.

"Me too! I've got a really cool book of them that Mary Margaret got me. She lets me have cookies and milk while she reads the stories to me in the afternoons. And Ma always reads to me before bed, too. Do you want to get some cookies and milk and look at the book with me?"

Regina looks between Henry and Emma as though unsure what to do. She still holds tight to Emma, but she looks at Henry with interest.

"It's okay, sweetheart. You can go with Henry. I'll be right here." Emma assures as she smiles at Henry. Her son is pretty amazing.

Henry holds out his hand to Regina with a smile. She looks at him with wide eyes before she finally takes his hand. "Do you like Oreo's or Chips Ahoy?" Henry asks as he walks with her into the kitchen. Regina doesn't answer, but Henry just grins. "Both? Me too!"

Emma collapses on the couch beside Mary Margaret, looking into the kitchen where Henry is pulling out cookies. "Oh, Mary Margaret, what am I doing?"

Mary Margaret just smiles. "Something amazing."

And as she watches Regina dunk a cookie into milk, a tiny smile slipping onto her face as Henry makes goofy faces at her, Emma thinks that maybe, just this once, she is someone's savior after all.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Written for the Senior Livin’ challenge over at OnceUponALand. Had to deal with a character in their senior years.
> 
> **Note:** It’s sad and mentions character death so… be aware.

She looks up at the sound of footsteps entering the room, her eyes alight for a moment before they dim and her smile fades a bit. "Oh. Hello."

"Hi." The man offers her a smile as he moves over to sit by her, reaching out to give her hand a squeeze. To her credit, she doesn't flinch away, even as her eyes move over his face, trying to place him. "How are you today?"

"Fine. Just…" She lets the words trail off as though she's afraid of voicing them.

"Just what?" He prods gently, squeezing her hand again.

"Just waiting." And there's a bit of scorn in her voice, enough that it makes him smile for reasons she doesn't understand. "She always keeps me waiting."

"Who does?" He asks, and she frowns a little at him. Who is he to question her this way? But his smile is warm and reminds her of someone she thinks she used to know – she just can't quite put her finger on who it is.

"Emma. She hasn't been to see me today. But I'm not worried." She says, her eyes moving around the room until they land on a picture on the bureau – Emma's arms are wrapped around her, laughing, even as she tries to look serious. "She always comes back."

The man says nothing, but it looks like there are tears in his eyes. She can't imagine why. Emma keeps her promises – that's what good people do, after all.

"I'm sure you'll be with her again soon." The man murmurs as he stands, leaning over to press his lips against her forehead. The gesture is warm and intimate and it sparks something in her, but she doesn't know what.

She clasps his hand and looks up at him, trying to piece it all together. It's there, she knows, but she just can't bring it together. She wishes Emma was here – her savior that brought everything together. "You'll visit again?"

"Of course." He tells her, even as he moves towards the doorway. He turns back to look at her, but her attention is focused on the old photograph, on the ghost of his birth mother, whose death wrenched away the last vestiges of his mother's grasp on reality.

"I love you, Mom." He whispers, but the words don't reach her. Nothing seems to reach her anymore.

And she just continues to reach for Emma, who no one can reach anymore.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the song fic challenge over at OnceUponALand. I picked Tim McGraw's Better Than I Used To Be as my song.

 

_I know how to hold a grudge_   
_I can send a bridge up in smoke_   
_And I can't count the people I've let down,_   
_And the hearts I've broke_   
_You ain't gotta dig too deep_   
_If you wanna find some dirt on me_   
_I'm learning who you've been_   
_Ain't who you've got to be_   
_It's gonna be an uphill climb_   
_Aww honey I won't lie_

* * *

"Why are you with me?" Regina asks as she stares at the savior, draped across her bed as though she's always been there.

"What?" Emma asks, pushing herself up on her elbow to better look at Regina's face.

"Why are you here? Why me? Do you have any idea –"

Emma snorts then, undignified but adorable in its own way. "Of course I've got an idea, Regina. I'm well aware of who you are and what you've done. You did a lot of it to my parents, if you'll recall."

Regina rolls her eyes. "They weren't the only ones that I terrorized. I can't even begin to count the number of people I've harmed, the number of hearts I've taken."

"Yeah. And?" Emma shrugs.

"And, I don't understand how you can lay there and act like it doesn't matter." Regina frowns.

"Because it doesn't. I mean, of course it does – you're the Evil Queen, there's no getting around that. But that's not all you are. That's not who you are now. That's not who you have to be. Don't you see that?"

Regina closes her eyes against Emma's intense gaze. "Sometimes I feel like you're the only one who doesn't see the Evil Queen when they look at me."

"Okay. Maybe that's true. But that doesn't mean that it's always going to be true. If you keep showing people that that's not who you are anymore, eventually they'll start to get it."

"Eventually."

"Hey, I didn't say it would be easy." Emma says as she moves to straddle Regina, leaning down with a predatory smirk. "But the good things in life never are."

* * *

_I ain't no angel_   
_I still got a few more dances with the devil_   
_I'm cleaning up my act little by little_   
_I'm getting there_   
_I can finally stand the man in the mirror I see_   
_I ain't as good as I'm gonna get_   
_But I'm better than I used to be_

* * *

"Hello, Regina." Archie offers her a smile and even though she keeps her face neutral, she can feel the slight tug on her cheeks that lets her know that a part of her wanted to smile back.

Baby steps.

"Dr. Hopper."

"How are things going since our last session?" Archie asks as he settles down into his chair.

"The same, I suppose. I still haven't used magic, not since –"

"You brought Emma and Mary Margaret back."

She inclines her head in agreement.

"And how is Emma?"

It's a simple question, but she still bristles at it. She doesn't do well with opening up about any part of her life, let alone a part that leaves her feeling so vulnerable. "Fine."

Archie doesn't push, just offers her a smile and moves on. "And Henry?"

"Better, now that Emma's back."

"And how are you?"

"I –" she falters then, still unsure of her answer. How is she? She's not better, she's not good. But she's closer than she's been since the moment Daniel died. "I'm getting there."

* * *

_I've pinned a lot of demons to the ground_   
_I've got a few old habits left_   
_But there's still one or two I might need you to help me get_   
_Standing in the rain so long has left me with a little rust_   
_But put some faith in me_   
_And someday you'll see_   
_There's a diamond under all this dust_

* * *

"Emma," she says softly, her fists clenching and unclenching at her sides. She's tried. No one can say that she hasn't tried. But she can't do this anymore.

"That's it." Emma announces, standing up with a bit more force than necessary. "We're leaving."

"What?"

"But we haven't even gotten to dessert yet." Her mother protests.

"And we won't. Not here. Henry, grab your coat. We'll go to Granny's for ice cream on the way home."

Henry doesn't argue with that. In fact, he wears a rather pleased smile as he stands from the table, letting the dirty dishes where they are. It makes her feel smug, her son on her side – or Emma's side at the least – in something, standing against Snow.

"Emma, please." Her father tries, but Emma just shakes her head.

"No. We're leaving."

"But –"

"No." Emma says again, her voice firm. "I won't stay here any longer. I won't make her listen to this any longer. How she's managed to not turn you both into toads by now is amazing to me. So we are leaving. When you think you can actually be civil, we will be back. Until then, my family and I are going home."

The slam of the door feels like a victory, even though she knows it shouldn't.

"You didn't have to do that." She murmurs as they move toward the car, where Henry is already buckled in and ready to go to Granny's.

"Yes, I did. You can't be the only one that's trying. I won't let you be."

"I'm the one that needs to…" she can't quite bring herself to say 'make amends' or any of the other things that she knows she should. Some habits are harder to kick than others, and while she can do without magic, trying not to hate Snow is proving far harder.

"No. You're not the only one." Emma smiles then, a genuine smile. "But I love that you're trying. For Henry."

"Not just for Henry." She smiles and the way Emma looks at her makes it all worth while.

* * *

_I ain't no angel_   
_I still got a few more dances with the devil_   
_I'm cleaning up my act little by little_   
_I'm getting there_   
_I can finally stand the man in the mirror I see_   
_I ain't as good as I'm gonna get_   
_But I'm better than I used to be_

* * *

"Hey." Emma says after they return home that night, her hands on Regina's shoulders, turning her toward the mirror. "Look at yourself."

And for a woman who was supposed to be so incredibly vain, Regina resists looking for as long as Emma will let her.

"Look at yourself." She says again, reaching around to lift Regina's chin up. She watches as dark eyes finally meet the mirror and Regina looks at herself. "What do you see?"

"I – I don't know." Regina admits softly. "Not her. But –"

"Not who you want to see yet either?" Emma says softly, right next to her ear and she slowly nods. "But it's better, isn't it? This Regina."

And when she looks again, she sees herself, wrapped in Emma's arms. Not the Evil Queen. Not the mayor. Just Regina. Just a woman, trying to be better.

It isn't what she wants to see. It isn't as good as she wants to be. But it's better than it was before. She can stand to look at herself now. And that's what truly matters.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three sentence-ish AU fic written for the prompt 'storm chasers' over on Tumblr.

"You cannot seriously be considering going after this one," Regina grabs her arm and spins her around, not letting her gaze falter, "Emma, it'd be suicide; I can't go with you for this."

Emma pulls her arm away, tears already in her eyes. "I thought we were a team." She shakes her head and moves towards the beat up truck that won't make it through another storm. "Fine. Don't come. I'll go alone. Everyone leaves me anyway. Why should this be different?"

"Emma!" Regina calls against the wind that's already picking up, but the only answer she gets is the slamming of the truck door.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three sentence-ish AU fic written for the prompt 'country music' over on Tumblr.

"Who the hell do you think you are, singing  _my_  song at  _my_  concert," Regina hisses as soon as Emma makes it off stage, the crowd still screaming her name, the way they used to when Regina would perform that song.

Emma shrugs out of the tight hold, waving off August while nodding to the band to take their places for the encore, "Last I checked, Regina, it was  _our_  concert - co-headliners, remember? - and I just figured that someone should sing your good music, since apparently you don't want to anymore."

"How dare -" Regina gears up for a rant, but Emma just turns on her boot and heads back towards the stage, calling "Sorry, but I've got thirty thousand screaming fans to entertain" over her shoulder.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three sentence-ish fic written for the prompt 'R & E are repainting one of the rooms and they argue about what color is the best' over on Tumblr.

"I swear to god, Regina, if you show me one more paint sample that is white - no matter what fucking fancy ass name they've come up with for it - I will pour this whole bucket of paint over your head." Emma growls, holding up the bucket of blue paint menacingly.

"Is that so?" Regina raises her eyebrow as she moves closer to Emma, practically daring her to do as she's threatened.

Emma's never been one to back down from a challenge, Regina should know that by now, and before she even finishes reading the ridiculous name - minced onion, really? - the paint is being poured.

The carpet comes away unscathed thanks to the tarps they've put down, but by the end of the all out paint fight that ensues - and leads to other pursuits; they'll be washing off paint for days - the white walls are splattered in blue in a way that actually works for the room.

Emma grins triumphantly every time she sees it.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU ficlet written for the prompt 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' over on Tumblr.

"No, Phillip." She says before he even opens his mouth. Coulson smirks at the name - she's the only one who ever calls him that - and at her tone.

"Why Agent Mills, you don't even know what I was going to say."

"You were going to try to talk me in to taking in your little stray and training her."

"Miss Swan is hardly a stray." Coulson counters. "She's got skills that could be very useful to the team."

"She's a bail bondsperson, not James Bond, and certainly not SHIELD material."

"The same was said of you in the beginning, as I recall."

"The answer is still no."

"She's good, and you know it. You don't want to admit it. But I've seen how you watch her."

Regina's head snaps up. "Excuse me?"

Coulson laughs. "Don't worry, Regina, your secret's safe with me. And I didn't come to ask you to train Emma."

"She run away already? I heard that's her MO."

"No. Agent May has offered to train her. Apparently she sees potential in Emma, just like I do."

"Melinda offered -" Regina frowns, not liking that idea at all, although she's not sure why.

Coulson just smirks. "You really need to lighten up, Agent Mills. Perhaps take a little vacation. Tahiti is magical."

Regina growls as she turns away from him, but thoughts of beaches and blondes in bikinis fill her head for the rest of the afternoon.

 


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU ficlet written for the prompt 'Broadway' over on Tumblr. Inspired by Wicked's 10th anniversary.

"You missed a spot." Emma's breath is hot on Regina's skin as her fingers run behind Regina's ear, coming away green. Her lips soon trace the path that her fingers traveled, now that it's been 'degreenified'.

"Oh god." Regina moans, her body already moving backward, seeking out Emma's, even as she frowns and continues scrubbing at her skin. "We're such a cliche."

"I don't know about that." Emma bites down on her earlobe, then nuzzles her nose into Regina's neck.

"Everyone always claims the actresses playing Elphaba and Glinda are sleeping together." Regina reminds her.

"Yes, but in this case, we actually are." Emma chuckles.

"You should be at stage door." Regina warns, but her heart obviously isn't in it, and neither is her body, as she grinds back against Emma.

"They'll wait." Emma says and it's not something she takes for granted, having fans, but it's something she still hasn't quite wrapped her brain around - not after the years of being an unknown in the chorus who couldn't sign a Playbill for someone, even if she asked. "Besides, I had to get all this fucking glitter off."

"Not very Galinda of you." Regina smirks.

Emma rolls her eyes. Her skin glistens under the water and the light - the remnants of the glitter that she absolutely hates, but puts up with for the sake of the role. She's not perky like Kristin or Megan or any of the others who've come before her. But she's enchanting on the stage, giving more depth to Glinda's emotions than anyone has in a long while.

 _It's easy to fall in love with her - both onstage and off_ , Regina thinks, turning and pushing Emma against the wall of the far too small for two shower.

The green makeup is finally all gone and Emma thinks she looks even more beautiful now, stripped and soaking, than she ever has on the stage.

There's no doubt Regina owns the Gershwin stage each night, but here, in the tiny dressing room shower, where Emma's her only audience, that's where she's truly a star to be worshiped.

And so Emma does worship her, dropping to her knees and looking up through water coated lashes to catch dark eyes. They don't have much time, but they won't need it - a month into their run and they've already perfected this aspect. The rest is a work in progress, but Emma's just fine with that.

The fans will wait. This feeling, this need, this rush. It won't.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for my Trick Or Treat fic meme over on Tumblr.

"Uh, Regina?" Emma calls out as she comes down the stairs to see a basket sitting by the front door. "What's this basket doing by front door?"

"It's for the trick or treaters, of course." Regina replies as she comes out of the kitchen, a smirk on her face.

"You cannot be serious." Emma's mouth drops open. "Number 1, let's just put aside all the insane fairy tale crap where you're famous because of a poisoned apple and focus on the fact that anyone who gives apples away on Halloween is just asking for their house to be egged or giving the impression that they've poisoned the apples. Which brings us back to number 2, you're famous because of a poisoned apple! You really think anyone in this town is going to -"

Regina begins to laugh, watching as Emma's face gets redder and redder the more she rants. "Relax, dear. I was merely joking." She moves to the closet and pulls out a large bowl filled with full size candy bars of every variety.

"Whoa! You're giving out full candy bars?" Emma reaches for one, only to have her hand slapped away. "You're gonna have them eating out of your hands."

Regina smiles, then shrugs. Emma grins and turns, catching a glimpse of something out the window.

"Regina, hide the candy."

"If you think you're going to keep all this candy for yourself -"

"No. Just." She motions towards the door a small smirk slipping onto her face. "My mother's coming up the path. Consider this your treat."

Regina's smile is positively wicked when she opens the door to Snow, holding out the basket of apples.

"Happy Halloween, Snow."

 


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for my Trick Or Treat fic meme over on Tumblr.

Regina opens the door to the house slowly, turning to watch as Emma moves slowly up the walk. In her arms, Henry is sound asleep, a night of trick or treating and then the Halloween party at Granny's having effectively knocked him out.

"You didn't have to carry him." Regina says softly as she watches Emma maneuver Henry into his bed. "And you didn't have to -"

Emma shakes her off, slipping off the Iron Man mask and shoes, but leaving the rest of the costume - including the glowing arc reactor - in tact.

"He should be here in his own bed tonight." Emma says, giving Regina's arm a soft squeeze. "Besides, this way you have to be the candy police."

"A not entirely selfless gesture then." Regina rolls her eyes, but there's no malice there. Not after she's spent the night with her son thanks to Emma.

"Thank you." Emma murmurs, leaning in close as though she may kiss Regina's cheek before pulling away at the last second, slipping past her and heading down the stairs.

"Miss Swan." Regina calls, then corrects herself. "Emma. What are you thanking me for?"

Emma looks up to where Regina stands on the first landing and smiles, a painful little smile that makes Regina's heart twist. "Ten years of Halloween costumes and walking your feet off and monitoring the candy and… just, all of it. He's lucky, you know? To have had you. To have you."

"Emma." She calls, moving down the stairs faster to stop Emma's retreat. "Wait."

"Regina, I can't -" Emma starts to protest, the tears in her eyes already giving away her weakness, but for once Regina doesn't use it to her advantage.

"I've got pictures." She offers. "And apple cider, if you'd like."

Emma blinks and one tear slips down her cheek. "Yeah?"

Regina gives her a warm smile and nods. "Yes."

Emma smiles back and follows her into the study.


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU ficlet written for the prompt 'Special Victims Unit AU' over on Tumblr.

"Miss Swan?"

The door opened just a fraction, enough for blonde hair to spill out and a narrowed green eye to take in the man and woman on the other side of the door.

"Who wants to know?"

"I'm Detective Mills." A badge was held up. "And this is my partner Detective Humbert. We'd like to ask you a few questions."

"I haven't done anything wrong." Emma protested. "You can ask my parole officer." The door started to shut.

"No. No. We don't think you've done anything wrong. We're actually here about Neal Cassidy."

At that, the door did slam shut, the sound of the deadbolt clicking into place echoing in the hallway.

"Miss Swan, please!" Regina called, knocking on the door once more.

"Go away."

"We know you ended up in the ER last night." Graham joined in the conversation. "According to the nurse, you'd been assaulted – possibly raped. You wouldn't let them do a rape kit. Took off before they could finish the exam. Why is that, Miss Swan?"

Regina shot Graham a look as she moved closer to the door, lowering her voice. "Miss Swan, we know you were out with Mr. Cassidy last night. If something happened…"

"Nothing happened! Nothing. I got mugged on my way home from dinner. That's it. You can tell the mayor that's it."

"The mayor?" Regina's eyes widened. They were well aware that Neal Cassidy was the son of the mayor, but Regina had never thought that the mayor may somehow be involved in everything. "Miss Swan, did Mayor Gold threaten you?"

"Please. Please, just go."

"Miss Swan – Emma." Regina tried. "You aren't the first person that Neal Cassidy has assaulted and you won't be the last – not if you don't help us. Please. We want to get this guy. We want to put him away. And if the mayor is involved, then we want to get him too. Help us. Please."

The deadbolt turned and the door opened just a crack again. "You think I can help you?" The door opened wider, revealing all of Emma's face – and the large bruise on her cheek. "I grew up in the foster system after I was found along the side of the road, abandoned. I went through home after home – always sent back – always a 'problem'. I went to jail when I was 18. I work – well, I'm sure you know where I work. I am nothing, Detective. I am trash."

"No." Regina denied, moving closer, wanting to hold this crying woman who had obviously been torn down her whole life.

"Yes! I am. It's all I've ever been. You think anyone's going to believe me if I tell them Neal Cassidy went out with me, let alone that he – he assaulted me? You think a judge and jury will believe me?"

"Yes."

"No." Emma shook her head. "Trust me, Detective Mills. I know. I've tried to tell the truth before. I've tried to - I've seen the way people look at me. No one believes me."

"I do." Regina made it inside the apartment and took Emma's hand. "I believe you. And I will help you through this. I promise you, Emma, I will make this bastard pay for what he did to you. I will."

Tears slid down Emma's cheeks as she nodded and allowed her walls to crumble. There was something about the detective's eyes – the warmth that radiated from them – that made Emma believe that she was telling the truth. And Emma decided that she would trust her and not run. Not this time.

This time, she was going to get justice.

 


	36. Chapter 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt 'Emma first kisses Regina out of jealousy wanting Regina to be hers not TInkerbelle's' over on Tumblr.

"You kissed me." Regina's lips are still tingling as she stares wide-eyed at Emma.

"Yeah." Emma's hands find their way into her back pockets and her eyes flit around so that she's looking anywhere but at Regina.

"Why?"

"Huh?" Emma looks up then, as though Regina is speaking French.

"Why did you kiss me?"

"Uh," Emma shifts uncomfortably under Regina's scrutiny, "because." It's more a question than an answer.

"Because why?" Regina presses, moving closer, and if she thinks that's going to help Emma think about anything other than kissing her again, she's dead wrong.

"Because I –" Emma's gaze lands on Tinkerbell, back at the campsite with the rest of the rag tag team they've assembled, for just a moment before she looks back, a sudden fire in her eyes. "Because I wanted to."

"Because you were jealous." Regina surmises with a smirk and raised eyebrow. "Of Tinkerbell. Of our complicated history."

"No." Emma protests, even as she wants to scream that 'complicated' is supposed to be their thing, not Regina and Tinkerbell's.

"Yes." And damn, Emma just wants to wipe that smug smirk off her face. Preferably with her lips.

"Does it really matter?" She huffs in annoyance.

"I don't know, dear. I suppose it depends on whether you plan to kiss me again or not." Regina replies, her own eyes now dancing away from Emma's gaze.

"Well, duh." Emma replies as she pulls Regina back in for another kiss. This time, Regina kisses her back with equal fervor and any thoughts of jealousy are quickly extinguished.

 


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for my Trick Or Treat fic meme over on Tumblr.

"Whoa!" Ruby gasps as Emma walks into Granny's Halloween party. Emma laughs, following Ruby's line of sight down to her chest. "What – who – I mean – whoa!"

Emma grins, tossing a blonde curl over her shoulder. "I'm Dolly Parton," she explains the costume, suddenly wondering if anyone in Storybrooke even knows who that is. Most things had bled through from the outside world, although Emma's found that a lot of pop culture knowledge is still limited or lacking.

"I can see that." Ruby replies, her eyes still stuck on Emma's boobs. Well, at least she knows who Dolly is. "Damn, Em, are those real?"

"Parts of 'em are." She smirks and Ruby leans forward.

"Can I touch them?"

Emma looks down at her chest, then around the diner. "Not until I've had a drink or two in me."

Ruby grins and moves to grab Emma a beer.

* * *

"Emma!" Henry calls out as he runs into the diner.

"Hey kid. Great costume."

"Thanks!" Henry grins as looks down at the glowing arc reactor on his chest. "I'm gonna go get some food."

"Okay." She watches him go with a smile before turning and catching sight of Regina.

"Miss Swan. What a lovely costume." Regina deadpans as her eyes travel over Emma, stopping to rest in the obvious place. Regina knows a thing or two about cleavage enhancement and she also knows that there is no way that  _those_  all belong to Emma. While the woman does have a rather nice chest – not that Regina's looked or anything – she certainly doesn't have that much to show off.

"I'm Dolly Parton." Emma defends, crossing her arms over her chest, which only succeeds in pushing her breasts up farther. "What are you?" She bites her tongue to keep 'besides a witch' from coming out.

"I am dropping Henry off to you for the evening." Regina replies, tearing her eyes away. "Please do try to keep an eye on him."

Emma rolls her eyes. "Yes, Regina."

"Good night, Miss Swan."

"I told you, it's Dolly."

"Good night, Miss Swan." Regina repeats.

"Night, Regina."

* * *

"This is your third beer."

"Yes, Ruby, I'm well aware." Emma replies, taking a pull of it. She's watching Henry as he talks with David, not only because she's aware of Regina, holed up in a back booth, watching him too. She's trying to be inconspicuous and Emma's allowing it, since no one else seems to notice that she's there.

"So, can I touch them now?" Ruby looks back at her chest, her fingers unconsciously flexing.

"Touch your own." Emma rolls her eyes.

"Oh, come on Emma! I just wanna feel. I mean – they're obviously padded. How'd ya do it anyway?"

"That's for me to know."

"Please?" Ruby pouts, turning on the puppy dog eyes.

"Oh lord. Fine." She turns and steps closer. "One feel. But that's it."

Ruby's hands come up and cup her breast from underneath. "Wow!" She says as she then moves to feel them from the top.

"Hey, hey, hey. I told you one feel."

"Oh my god. They feel so different!" Ruby laughs. "How much padding do you have on?"

"Shut up, Ruby." Emma says, turning away from her, only to come face to face with Leroy.

"Yeah, sister. How much padding do you have on?" He leers at her.

"One step closer and I'll break all your fingers." Emma replies, moving away from him. It seems that everyone wants a chance to feel now that Ruby's been granted access, so Emma quickly makes her way back to Regina's booth, sliding in without giving any notice. She knows no one will venture back this way.

Regina raises an eyebrow as she looks down to where Emma's breasts are resting on the table.

"What, you wanna feel 'em too?" She huffs in exasperation before she notices the redness that is creeping up Regina's neck and ears.

"What? Why on earth would you –"

"You do." She gasps, leaning across the table. "Oh my god, you do."

"Please," Regina recovers, "I was merely taken by the fact that you're resting your bosom on the table, fake as it may be."

"Hey! Not all of it is fake, thank you very much." Emma sits back. "A good portion of this is real."

Regina gets up and moves to leave by the back exit. "Whatever you say, dear."

"It's true!" Emma protests, following her out. "Don't believe me? Feel."

And then she grabs Regina's hands, placing them just where Ruby's had been a few minutes before.

"Miss Swan!" Regina gasps, but she doesn't remove her hands. Emma's flesh is warm beneath her palms, warm and real, as Emma had claimed.

"See. It's just the under part that's padding. All the cleavage is actually mine. I wore a bra that was a few sizes too small so it'd push them together and up. And then I padded underneath it so they wouldn't look scrunched." Emma explains.

"Mm." Regina nods, her hands still firmly in place. "A corset also works nicely, when paired with the right neckline."

Emma glances down towards Regina's chest. A tiny hint of cleavage is peeking out of her shirt, but it's certainly nothing like Emma's own. "Evil Queen fashion tip?"

"You should have seen some of my outfits."

"God, I'd love to." Emma replies without thinking.

"Is that so?" Regina smirks, finally removing her hands from Emma's chest, although not before squeezing just a bit.

"Uhhh." Emma moans.

"I'll keep that in mind." Regina turns to leave, but Emma grabs her before she can, her mind clearer now.

"Wait a minute. That's not how this works. I showed you mine. Now you show me yours!"

"Perhaps another time dear. After all, you have Henry for the evening."

"Regina!" Emma whines, still not letting her go.

"Whining isn't becoming." Regina says as she moves back, waving a hand over her body. There's a puff of smoke and suddenly Regina's standing before her in a black dress, her ample cleavage on display. Emma's mouth drops open.

"Rest assured dear, there's no padding to be found here."

Emma moves forward, ready to check for herself, but just as her hands move to settle on Regina's chest, there's another puff of smoke and the alleyway is empty, save for Regina's rich laughter tickling Emma's ears.

"Trick or treat, Miss Swan. It seems that you got the trick while I got the treat. Better luck next year."

"Next year my ass." Emma huffs as she moves back inside the diner. She's gonna get her hands on Regina long before that, of that she's certain.

 


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Music & Ficlet Meme over on Tumblr.

**_So, I snuck out behind the red barn_ **   
**_And I took myself a toke_ **   
**_Since everybody here hates everybody here_ **   
**_Hell, I might as well be the joke_ **

_Hush Hush – The Pistol Annies_

* * *

 

"There you are." Regina's voice cuts through the crisp November air and makes Emma startle against the red shed that she's been camped out behind for the last half an hour.

She doesn't even have time to try and hide the joint she's holding lazily between her fingers before Regina is in front of her.

"We've been looking –" Regina's voice cuts off abruptly as she catches sight of the curl of smoke rising upwards. "What is that?" Her voice is deadly.

Emma thinks about playing dumb, but she knows better. "A joint." She responds instead, like she's talking about the weather or who might win the football game that the men had all been so interested in when she'd slipped out.

"A jo—are you high?"

Emma nearly laughs at how high pitched Regina's voice has gone, but she knows that won't end well for her and while she isn't looking forward to the dinner she's about to attend, she'd sooner not die today.

"Not yet." She's only gotten one good toke in, not even enough to take the edge off yet, but she'll rectify that momentarily.

Except Regina's faster than she is and she snatches the joint out of Emma's grasp before she even manages to lift it to her mouth. "Where did you get this?"

Emma thinks about saying she stole it from evidence at the station, but she knows that would go over like a lead balloon and while she might have thought about covering Neal's ass once, that time has long since sailed. "I lifted it from Neal's coat pocket." She shrugs.

"Of course you did." Regina growls, but she sounds almost triumphant, like this just proves that she's the better parent because she doesn't do drugs. That, Emma knows, is about the least of the reasons why she's the better parent, but she doesn't say that. Not today.

"Hey!" She yelps as she watches Regina drop the joint and crush it beneath her patent leather fuck me pumps that she knows Regina wore just to piss off Snow.

"Have you lost your mind, Miss Swan?" Regina hisses. "Doing drugs behind your parents' house when you are supposed to be inside having Thanksgiving dinner with your family. Do you have any idea –"

"No!" Emma bursts out then, feeling tears building and knowing that she can't blame her heightened emotions on the drugs, although she'd certainly like to. "I don't! Okay? I don't have any idea!"

Regina falters at that, taking a step back and looking at Emma like she's grown a second head.

"I don't have any idea about any of it. Parents. Thanksgiving dinner. Family. I've got no fucking idea, Regina!"

"Emma." Regina whispers, suddenly understanding.

"Do you know how many family Thanksgivings I had growing up?" Emma continues on, pushing away from the shed and starting to pace, trying to burn off the access energy and pain that she's finally allowing herself to feel. "Two." She spits the answer. "And I don't even remember them because I was a baby! Three years with a family, two Thanksgivings, and all I can remember is how they didn't want me. How nobody wanted me!" The tears are falling hard and fast now as the words fly out of her mouth.

"Emma." She says louder, trying to break through the haze of grief and pain, but it's too late. Emma's already on a roll.

"But I should be happy right? Because I got what I always wanted. I got parents. Parents that want a redo with a new baby instead of me. And I'm supposed to just go in there and sit down and smile. But hey, it's okay because there are plenty of other people to distract me, right? Like the man who let me go to prison pregnant and alone just because August told him to. Or his father – The Dark One – who has been pulling all the strings for centuries. Or the man who suddenly thinks I'm his second shot at love when I want nothing to do with him."

"Emma, stop." Regina reaches out and grabs her arms, holding tightly until Emma calms a bit.

"We all hate each other." She chokes on what could be a laugh or a sob. "We all hate each other, but we're sitting down around the same table for Thanksgiving."

"Well, I wouldn't say we all hate each other." Regina gives her a soft smile. "And you know that all of this is for Henry. And you. Your parents are trying."

"I'm sorry." She whispers then, looking down at the ground. She knows what it's costing Regina to say these things – to even been here in the first place. "I know how fucked up this all is and I'm not helping anything by being out here smoking but I – I got so overwhelmed and I knew Neal would be carrying – because he's always carrying – and I thought I could just take the edge off and come back in and be fine."

"Why did you get overwhelmed? It's not as though this is the first time we've all been together."

"I know. I guess I just let it get me upset but I just wanted –"

"What?"

"I just wanted a family Thanksgiving, you know?"

"I think you really are high, dear, because as much as I don't like to admit it, everyone in that house is in same way or the other related to you or Henry. They're all family."

"God, how fucked up is that?" Emma murmurs, before she shakes her head. "No, I meant – I thought that it could just be us. You, me, and Henry. And maybe I'd stop over to see my parents but – I guess I just wanted it to be just us for my first real family Thanksgiving."

"Oh, Emma." Regina pulls her close then, and Emma buries her face in Regina's neck, taking in her scent and finally allowing herself to relax. Regina strokes her hair for a while before she pulls back and gives her a soft smile. "We can still have that."

"Yeah?" Emma perks up.

"Yes." Regina confirms. "I'll cook us a meal and we can have our own family celebration. Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Emma whines.

"You have already dragged me here, Emma. If I'm going to be forced to endure this company and the food that your mother has prepared, then so are you. Today will be for your family – fucked up as it is." Emma gasps at that before letting out a small laugh of delight. "And tomorrow will be just for us."

"Damn. I love you." Emma says against her lips, kissing Regina softly. It's only as she's pulling back that she realizes it's the first time she's ever verbalized her feelings.

"That had better not be the marijuana talking."

"It isn't!" Emma assures quickly, relieved at this reaction from Regina, even if it isn't exactly the one she wanted.

"Tell me again tomorrow." Regina whispers, a hint of doubt still creeping into her tone.

"Tomorrow." Emma affirms, her mind adding in 'and every day for the rest of my life'.

She watches Regina walk back toward the house and can't stop the smile from forming. Damn, she's got a lot to be thankful for.

 


	39. Chapter 39

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for a challenge over at OnceUponALand where Emma, Mary Margaret, and Regina all had to work together. I blame this on The Golden Girls. Also, I shamelessly stole the title of this from an 80s movie, although they are vastly different. Please don't sue.

It shouldn't be a difficult thing, which is why she agrees when Ashley calls her, sounding almost on the verge of tears because her usual babysitter has fallen through and if she doesn't get to go out with Sean tonight, she doesn't know what she'll do. It's not like Emma's a stranger to babies – she had one, although she never actually looked at him, let alone raised him, but she's been in enough group homes to have been around children of various ages. In fact, more often than not, she had been a de facto babysitter when her foster parents wanted to go out.

So Emma agrees that of course she'll watch Alexandra for a couple of hours so Ashley and Sean can get out of the house. How difficult can it be?

* * *

The answer, at least for the first hour, is not very. Alexandra is a happy baby, who coos at Emma from her bouncy seat and giggles when Emma makes funny faces or plays peek a boo.

Emma manages to change a messy diaper without any problems and even gets the baby to take her bottle with no fuss. She burps easily and then lays her head sleepily on Emma's shoulder.

This is, Emma thinks, as she moves to lay the baby down in the bassinet that Ashley brought over, a piece of cake.

Except that as soon as Emma moves away from the bassinet, it goes from a piece of cake to a nightmare.

* * *

Mary Margaret can hear the sounds of Alexandra's cries before she even makes it up the stairs to the door of her apartment. She comes inside quickly to find Emma holding the baby who is now red-faced and screaming.

"What happened?" She asks, moving to quickly take the baby from Emma's arms as though Emma herself did something to the little girl.

"I don't know! She was fine – happy even – and then I laid her down in her bassinet and she just freaked. I haven't been able to calm her down since." Emma cries.

"Oh, it's okay. It's okay." Mary Margaret coos to the baby as she rocks her back and forth, but it does nothing to calm her. "Shh. Shhh."

"I don't know what happened." Emma sounds on the verge of tears herself.

"Maybe she needs a diaper change?"

"No, I just changed her half an hour ago and I checked her right before you came in. She's dry."

"Maybe she's hungry?"

"She had a bottle right before she went down. And she burped just fine for me."

Mary Margaret frowns then as she continues to try and rock Alexandra, who is still screaming. "Is she teething maybe? She doesn't seem to have a fever but –"

"I don't think so. I don't know. God." Emma runs her hands over her face before sighing. "That's it. I've gotta call her. I don't know what else to do."

"What? Who? Who are you calling?" Mary Margaret asks, but she doesn't hear the answer over Alexandra's cries.

* * *

"My god," Regina says as she pulls the baby from Mary Margaret's arms, "what have you done to this poor child?"

"Nothing. I swear. She was fine. And then I laid her down and boom. She went off." Emma tells her.

Regina begins to carefully bounce the baby in her arms as she leans close, cooing softly at her. And it's so unusual to see Regina this way – soft and caring and so motherly – that it takes Emma's breath away for a second. This is what it was like with Henry. This is the mom her son got. Wow.

"Have you checked her diaper?" Regina questions.

"Yes, she's dry. And she just had a bottle and burped before I put her down. She was almost asleep when I laid her down, totally content, and then she just freaked out. I don't think she's teething, Ashley didn't tell me if she is and – I don't know what to do, Regina. You're a mom. Help?"

Regina blinks for a moment, surprised by Emma's words, before she focuses her attention back on the crying baby. "What's the matter, little one? Hmm?" She hums softly and the cries lessen just a bit.

Regina and Mary Margaret don't seem to notice, but Emma, who has been listening to them the longest, picks up on it right away, as well as the fact that when Regina stops making the humming noise, the cries go back to their original volume.

"Regina. Do that again!"

"Do what?" Regina frowns.

"Hum."

So Regina hums again and the cries lessen again.

"Maybe we need to sing to her." Mary Margaret suggests.

"Yes. Yes. Regina, sing to her."

Regina's eyes widen. "I will not—"

"Regina. Come on."

"If she won't, I will." Mary Margaret replies, beginning to sing 'Hush Little Baby'. Alexandra doesn't react, except to keep crying.

Regina huffs in exasperation, before she begins to sing Brahms' Lullaby, although Emma's not sure why, because she's got a great voice. At her voice, Alexandra calms a bit, but still continues to cry.

Regina shoots her a look as Emma tries frantically to think of a song before it comes to her suddenly.

"A dream," she begins, her voice shaking as all eyes, even the baby's, turn to her, "is a wish your heart makes."

"No." Regina says, shaking her head at the song.

"When you're fast asleep." Mary Margaret joins in.

Emma glances at the baby in Regina's arms – the one who has almost stopped crying and is now just whimpering – before shooting her a look.

"In dreams you will lose your heartaches."

"Whatever you wish for, you keep." Regina finally joins in.

"Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through." They all sing together, their voices blending. Alexandra's eyes begin to slide back shut, her crying completely ceased. "No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true."

They finish the song and look at the sleeping child in Regina's arms.

"It worked." Mary Margaret grins.

"Yeah, well, just in case, how do you feel about holding her until Ashley and Sean get back, Regina?" Emma asks, eying the bassinet with distrust.

Regina moves to the couch and takes a seat, careful not to jostle the baby in her arms. "I suppose I can manage that."

Emma grins, sitting down next to her and gently bumping their shoulders. "Thanks, Regina."

"I suppose we all helped." Regina says, but Emma doesn't miss the slight upturn of her lips.

"Yeah. We did."


	40. Chapter 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **prompt:** _“I’d always dreamed of learning to fly.”_ – Hello, Darlin’ by Larry Hagman

“I’m sorry.” Regina says once they’re back at the apartment, her hands wrapped around a mug of steaming coffee that Emma knows is brewed exactly how she likes it. One of the many things Regina’s influence has brought about in the past year.

Emma raises a surprised eyebrow. It’s not the first time Regina has apologized to her, but each time she’s amazed. “For what?” 

Regina shrugs, trying to look unaffected, but it doesn’t exactly work. “For the bridge. I realize now that my methods of teaching may have been a little –“

“Fucking crazy?” Emma offers, but she keeps her voice light.

“I was going to say extreme.” Regina rolls her eyes and it makes Emma smile. As much as she’d never admit it, she’s missed this. “Both my teachers were –“

Emma wishes she had held on to the fucking crazy comment, because she’s pretty sure that it suits Cora and Rumple perfectly, but she keeps her mouth shut and lets Regina speak.

“Harsh.” She finally settles on. “It’s how I learned but that doesn’t mean that it has to be how I teach. You could have been killed and –“

“Please.” Emma cuts her off. While it’s nice to know that Regina apparently doesn’t want her dead, she also doesn’t need the woman to continue apologizing for something that helped her. “Like I’d let you get rid of me that easily.”

The corners of Regina’s mouth move for just a second before settling. Emma lets her own mouth lift in a smile in response.  “And besides, while it may have been crazy, it did produce results. Pretty awesome ones, if I say so myself.”

“Awesome, huh?” Regina examines her and Emma shrugs.

“I got to fly – kind of. I used to dream about that, you know? When I was a kid I used to think of how great it would be to be able to fly. To just lift off the ground and leave – to float through the air with nothing tethering you down. It was the dream.” 

Regina doesn’t say anything, just swallows another mouthful of coffee, but Emma can see the understanding reflected in her eyes. Sometimes she forgets – and it’s been easier of late, because she’s got all those years of happy memories to drown out the rest of it – how similar she and Regina really are. How they both grew up wishing for freedom that never came for them – not until much later and at a much higher price than either of them deserved to pay.

“And now that you’ve experienced it?”

Emma thinks of the feeling she had in that moment, after the rush of her stomach plummeting stopped and she realized that she wasn’t dead, but instead floating. She thinks of looking up, of seeing Regina standing there, and how once she caught sight of her, it was easy to rise up, to fly through the air to meet her. Once she saw Regina, flying was as easy as breathing.

And she thinks that maybe she had the power all along. That maybe she could’ve taken flight when she was a child, if only she’d had something –  _someone_  – like Regina to fly to.

“Better than I ever imagined.” She says, keeping her voice low and her eyes locked with Regina’s for a long moment before she finally looks down. “Maybe next time you’ll join me,” she murmurs.

A hand, warm and electric against her own, makes her look up. “Perhaps I will.” Regina replies, finally allowing her smile to show through.

And Emma knows that Regina’s the only thing keeping her from floating away right then and there, because she feels suddenly weightless. But this time, she’s quite content to stay tethered. 


	41. Chapter 41

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **prompt:** if swan queen kiss broke the curse, what other curses could it break? Emma possibly gets grumpy and withholds sexy times from Regina, but she in turn curses Emma with something like hiccups, so she has no choice but to kiss her.

"Ugh." Emma huffed as she dropped down on the couch without even bothering to take off her boots. It had been a long, rough day for the sheriff and all she wanted to do was veg out on the couch with some episodes of Law & Order to help her unwind. If her calculations were correct, she had a good two hours before Henry and Regina would be home, which should give her just enough time to shrug off her bad day.

Her calculations, however, were wrong as she found out only five minutes later when Regina walked into the room, frowning at the sight of Emma’s boots on the couch. “And what do we have here?” She arched her brow.  
  
"Nothing." Emma mumbled, not taking her eyes off the television for fear of Regina’s reaction. "Just relaxing for a bit. It was a long day."  
  
"Oh really?" Regina moved closer, settling herself on the edge of the couch and effectively blocking Emma’s view of the television. "Perhaps I could help you relax then. Maybe by taking your boots off for you." Emma sighed and craned her neck to see around Regina. "Or maybe I could just -" she leaned forward to press her lips to Emma’s, but Emma shifted again, causing Regina’s lips to fall on her cheek instead. Regina frowned and Emma moaned.  
  
"Regina, please, you know I love you but can I please just watch this episode in peace?"  
  
Regina’s eyes widened and if Emma had been paying attention to her and not the screen, she would know that she had just majorly screwed up. “Of course, dear. I’m sorry I wanted to kiss my lover. How silly of me.” She stood up from the couch and moved to leave the room, but not before flicking her wrist in Emma’s direction, a move that Emma also missed.  
  
She did notice that Regina had left though and felt bad about how she had acted. This is why she needed the time to unwind, so she didn’t end up doing stupid things like this to piss off her lover. “Regina, don’t be like that. I just -” The rest of her sentence was cut off by a rather loud hiccup. “Damn. I hate the hiccups.”  
  
She turned her attention back to the television, but just as the *doink doink* sounded, another hiccup also sounded.  
  
It was followed almost immediately by another hiccup, then another and another in rapid succession. She tried sucking in a large breath and swallowing hard, but before the air was even down her throat, another hiccup shook her body. They continued, one after another, causing her to be unable to watch her show or do anything else but try to pull in breaths after each one.  
  
In frustration, she got off the couch and headed for the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge as Regina watched, leaning against the counter and looking like the cat that ate the canary.   
  
The water didn’t work - in fact, she nearly choked when she tried to swallow it in the midst of another gasp - and that’s when Emma narrowed her eyes at Regina. “You. Did. This.” She got out between hiccups.  
  
"Me?" Regina looked shocked by the accusation, but Emma knew better. "Why would I do this?"  
  
"To get. Back. At me. For. Ignoring. You."   
  
"Really, dear, do I seem like the type of person to stoop to such petty pranks to get my revenge?"  
  
"Yes." Emma said as she moved closer to Regina.  
  
"Well, if it really is a curse, as you believe it to be, then there is one possible cure."  
  
"True. Love’s. Kiss." Emma smirked as she realized exactly what it was Regina was doing.  
  
"But I don’t know if you really want to kiss me. After all, you’ve had a long day and -" Regina said nothing more as Emma kissed her.  
  
When they finally broke for air, Emma gasped in a breath, but then laughed when no hiccups came. “That was cruel. But effective.”  
  
"It was a lesson you needed to learn." Regina grinned, wrapping her arms around Emma’s neck.  
  
"Never ignore you when you want something?"  
  
"That too. But I was trying to point out that True Love’s Kiss can break any curse, including the curse of a bad day."  
  
"Mmm." Emma leaned forward and kissed her again. "You know, I think you’re right."  
  
"Does this mean I rate above Law & Order on your bad day cures now?"  
  
"Hmm…" Emma feigned thinking. "I guess it depends what season we’re -" Regina went to flick her wrist again, but Emma grabbed her hand, pulling her in for another kiss.   
  
"Definitely better than Law & Order."


End file.
